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Leather Bracelet
Current Spiritual Expression
Spiritual, Unlabelable
Tradition Raised In
European Cultural Christianity (cultural as in not really religious)
Curator Reflection
This bracelet’s inscription seems indicative of a theme that runs throughout the objects in this exhibition: the concept of actively conferring a sense of value. How much of a value system are an individual decision and how much are shared commonly across humanity?
"This is a leather bracelet gifted to me by my German mother for my 21st birthday. Inscribed on the inside are the German words 'Dinge haben nur den Wert, den man ihnen verleiht.' I speak German fluently and so it is already meaningful to me for all of the mentioned circumstances. However, the English translation of the words is 'Things only have the value, that you confer upon them.' This describes my sense of spirituality because I find that practices of faith, ritual, or any other kind of spiritual inclination are at their core representations of and acts embracing the essence of humankind. The deep, spiritual feelings I find and chase throughout my own life are entirely personal to my own direct experience, because they manifest through things that I have conferred value upon. However, I believe that no matter what we give value to and how we express it, we all share some essential 'life-things' that have worth to us all."
