Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The role of arts as antidote to contemporary degrading society and ecological crisis, has been discussed extensively. Arts of the past unroll local visual languages that envelop the values, morality and spirituality of peoples of the past which are geographically and/or timely distant from us, contemporary 21st century citizens living in an era of consumerism and ecological and social degradation. The significance of studying visual arts of the past is important for raising awareness of our selfhood in relation to the “Other” (nature, persons). The pretext for this proposal is the study of the frescos of the narthex of Panayia Forviotissa chapel, a 900 hundred year old monument listed in UNESCO list of world cultural heritage. The frescos depict the personifications of Nature (Terra -Land and the Sea- Mare). Because of their location in relation to the dome (with the Pantocrator) Nature as well as humans are regarded through spiritual lenses: as co-exiting participants, as the “Other.” What might the frescos imply in our “troubled” times? What would the study of the fresco mean for the “more- than –human-world”? This paper proposal describes how a class of 4th grade students explored the murals and how they read them. This proposal, combining imaginative education, museum and arts education shows how the above were used for the development of a program of activities to explore the aforementioned murals. Based on the technical characteristics of the murals this presentation narrates a trip inwards and -through compassion- outwards to embrace the world.