The major issues raised in the article is "Repatriation" of the Antiquities of Egypt. Many of the ancient artifacts, the mummy's, statues and lots of other ancient art are either looted, sold illegally or are presented in the museum of other nation where they don't belong. The biggest example presented in this article is- The mummy of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses ll, the famous sculpture of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti, The head of Meryet, Ka-Nefer-Nefer funerary mask, and other thousands of artifact which are illegally auctioned, sold, or owned by private collectors. Egyptian officials have requested all around the globe to return their countless artifacts officially and unofficially, but they haven't succeeded much. The artifacts which are found in the auction, or museums were asked to return but due to lack of documentation and funds, the Egyptian government is unable to retrieve them. The Egyptians are losing their identity, culture, academic problem for students, history, value confusion due to looting, robbing of ancient tombs, museums where they are preserved. The biggest example is The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, located in Tahrir Square was looted during 2011. Many of the artifacts were repatriated and many of them were displayed in an exhibition that was dedicated to repatriated items.
This article is very closely related to what I learned about repatriation because the items (artifacts) which were stolen, looted, robbed somewhat were only repatriated to its origin of the nation, many were lost due to the failure of documentation, lost in transit, illegal auctioning and owning by private owners, museums. The various organization, people and nations are working together to battle with this problem but due to the law and various formalities, rules are failed to prove its originality after removal of its certain mark.
I strongly disagree with the decision made in this case. Repatriation of illegally obtained is the must. The history, culture, pride, foundation of a Nation lies on those valued items. It makes them who they are. Lack of documentation to claim or lack of money or the country's economy shouldn't be used whether to repatriate or not.
Article 2
The difference between the two early Medieval art between purse cover from the Sutton Hoo ship burial and Monogram of Chi Rho page from the Book of Kells are: The Monogram of Chi Rho carries extremely religious values and beliefs because the Chi Rho is the Greek alphabet of two letters. The first letters of "Christ", "Chi" is emphasized hard Ch sound while Rho is an R (Chi is written as an X while Rho is written roughly as P). It is work of art of Late 8th century. It is the graft done by the use of inks and pigments on vellum. The Chi-Rho refers to the crucifixion of Jesus and symbolizes status as Christ. But, The Book of Kells is also recognized as the Book of Columba (is an enlightened manuscript Gospel book) which is acknowledged to have been created around 800 A.D. and the text of the Gospels appears to be drawn from the Vulgate (the principle Latin version of the Bible). They are the art of a different century.
The purse doesn't convey religious values or belief. It is the work of the early 7th century, made up of gold, garnet (special kind of minerals) and millefiori (glasswork technique). On the purse, we can observe the picture of the bird above the other bird (seems two eagles attacking duck), and a man standing in between two beasts or wolves. I believe it symbolizes the power, strength, and courage a man or a leader should possess.
The similarities between these two arts are they are the greatest work of Early Medieval Art. They both are from the British Isles. During the 7th century, Anglo-Saxons (invaders of the Britain and displacer of the Roman-British culture of the south) began to convert to Christianity and the Chi-Rho is the illustration of Christianity. This both art resembles their cultural work in their own aspects and in their place of origin.
Article 3
The Serra's Tilted Arc is an example of the public art because it was placed on the open space which was easily accessible to thousands of people to view and admire the work of art. It is the huge artwork 120 feet long and 12 feet high occupying the half of the Federal Plaza. The total cost to build it was $175,000. The surrounding building believes this huge bulk as an obstacle, but the artist says it's the beauty of being huge because it provides viewer to become aware of themselves and while changing position it appears different (the sculpture changes), it is believed that not only the environment changes but also the perception of the sculpture changes by the movement of the viewer posing it unique beauty.
I somewhat agree and disagree by the decision of removing the Tilted Arc from the Federal Plaza I disagree because it is the public art which is made from the federal funds, the cost, labor, design to create were all gone to vain. It would always have been the center of tourism for Federal plaza. Likewise, I agree with its removal because it would always have been the center of attraction of good and deadly purposes, it would be a perfect place for the terrorist to bomb the place and cause thousands of casualties. The population of rats would have been grown under the huge space and the chances of graffiti attack would also be high and it occupying large space was the obstacle of surrounding buildings.
Work Cited
Egypt’s Own: Repatriation of Antiquities Proves to be a Mammoth Task
https://www .pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/tiltedarc_a.html
The Sutton Hoo helmet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://smarthistory.org/the-sutton-hoo-helmet/