Student 36

Object 1: My Qur’an

This Qur’an was gifted to me from one of my aunts when I was 10 years old. The Qur’an consists of holy Arabic text believed by Muslims to be God’s word, and contains Islamic cultural values and knowledge on distinguishing between virtue and evil, spiritual healing, ethical teachings, social change and guidance to a righteous life. It organizes all surahs (chapters) in relative descending order from right to left. I once believed this classification aimed to make reading easier, but what I quickly disregarded about the Qur’an was how it is not organized.

Most pieces of text are arranged thematically or sequentially for the purpose of transmitting knowledge by building up to a main idea, so many have wondered why the Qur’an is organized differently. Although a clear answer has not been defined, several analysts have nevertheless agreed that the Qur’an’s organization is purposeful and creative, making it seem more nuanced and refined and therefore likely to alter one's knowledge and outlook of Islamic belief. When considering all texts, conveying knowledge can be successful if it appears engrossing or captivating, and this is often achieved through unique organization. I included my Qur’an in this exhibition because it exemplifies this idea by distinctively organizing its teachings unlike almost any other text, while still retaining the ability to cause readers to connect seemingly contrasting knowledge on life and humanity.

This object further enriches this exhibition because its organization follows a complex paradigm; different chapters present ideas branching off into more chapters, which then narrate stories or provide principles that diverge into even more ideas. It is because of this complex structure that I continue to have changing, enlightening perspectives on humankind after gaining new interpretations from the text, even considering it a language of its own.

Object 2: My Concert Band Performance Music

This sheet music transcribes the music that I played in my high school band during a music contest. It also includes several markings that I have made to help understand the music better out of context. Language is used everyday to organize and communicate knowledge to others and interpret knowledge, and so because music possesses these qualities, it is often regarded as a language of its own.

Music can be classified both auditorily and orthographically; audible music is effective at communicating emotions and meanings, and written music better displays melodies, musical phrasing, harmonies and rhythms. Audible music helps better convey a composer’s message universally, but it is a language that not many understand when written on paper. Therefore, I classify information I interpret from music pieces by annotating the written music with my thoughts or instructions, as well as what emotions might be expressed by different phrases.

This object is therefore featured in this exhibition because the annotation of the written music alters peoples’ view of music as a language formed by a collection of cohesive sounds, similarly to how oral language is formed by phonetic enunciations. Categorization by marking allows more fluent communication of knowledge from music to musician, and from musician to audience. This music piece further enhances this exhibition because it is divided into movements, each with different messages to convey, allowing for more organization and connection between seemingly intangible words with concrete expressions. Each movement in this piece was based on old folk songs from Lincolnshire, but the audience may not necessarily understand that just by looking at the score, and so markings can help bring out the conveyed ideas and personalities portrayed by both the music and their composers.

Object 3: My World Map

This world map was an item that I had obtained from my history class in fifth grade after a geography game in class. It uses a Robinson projection and several elements of visual language such as color-labeling and symbols to organize and differentiate countries based on cultural architecture, therefore connecting ideas of both culture and history to each country.

This map is particularly interesting for this exhibition and unique from other maps because it makes us consider how organization of ideas can be both inclusive and exclusive of knowledge. In most maps, only the natural continents and country borders are shown and therefore only provide knowledge about the world’s physical geography. However, because the map also shows that different countries are grouped together based on regional cultures and landmarks, it affects people’s knowledge of the world by allowing them to view it through the lens of human geography and allows for a holistic view and acknowledgement of even smaller, local regions rather than widely recognized continents and countries with distinguished borders.

The world map also enhances this exhibition because, similarly to the Qur’an, it shows that unconventional organizational methods can have more benefits. In this case, however, the physical world as a whole can now be seen from a connotative perspective, allowing for the examination of knowledge of geographical change over time with regard to human modification and imprints rather than just the natural environment, which in turn both alters and redefines one’s “bigger picture” definition.