2016 Fl3tch3r Exhibit

Yesterday to meet my requirement for visiting a museum on campus, I visited the Reece Museum and looked at all the different pieces from the Fl3tch3r exhibit. The whole purpose of the exhibit is to make people think because all of the pieces there are revolved around many tough topics regarding political and social issues. A piece that particularly caught my attention was Moses by Sheskin.

In case you people in the colloverse can't tell what is written, the piece depicts the following: "If a modern day Moses climbed to the top of the highest mountain to speak with Jehovah, the ten tablets he would bring back down with him would be Prozac, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Xanax, Valium, Lithium, Thorazine, Vicodin and Ecstasy." 

Upon first seeing this piece, I didn't know how to react. It seems to play on the fact that the Ten Commandments God presented to Moses to bring back to the people were written on stone tablets. At first, I looked at this piece and questioned whether it was advocating for mental health, but the more I stare at it, I can interpret it two different ways: one as a religious commentary and a cry of anger against Jehovah and the other as a social commentary on the dependency of medication. From the religious viewpoint, the society that has been made is chaotic and distraught with all kinds of mental issues, and this piece portrays these problems as God's fault, so it is now His job to fix it with these tablets. Or maybe God is "blessing" Moses with these tablets but along with them comes the cost of mental instability. From a social viewpoint, I think this piece may be saying people want an "easy out" to their problems. They seek out medication and have become so dependent upon them that they are essential to their living and have become just as much of a staple in their lives as the Ten Commandments are to some religions. 

I have still yet to decide how I feel about this piece of art, but I definitely found it is worth the time to think over. I did my pondering for this. Now it's your turn.