IUAM shows 'Death and the Otherworld'

Nothing is certain but death and taxes. That’s what docent Tina Jernigan said inspired the “Death and the Otherworld” tour on Saturday at the IU Art Museum. \n“Everybody is going to die and we have to deal with it in some manner,” she said.\nWhen Jernigan signed up for the themed tour in October, she had just redone her will and was getting ready to plan her funeral. She explained she got obsessed with the idea of death and the way cultures perceive it.\n“Everybody dies – it’s a reality,” Jernigan said. “That’s the one thing every civilization has in common.”\nTen people showed up for the themed tour, and Jernigan guided them through art from Chinese, Greek, Etruscan and Roman cultures.\nJernigan explained all the works of art during the tour were somehow related to death, the burial practices or the cultural belief in the afterlife. \n“(Death) binds all civilizations together,” Jernigan said.\nThe tour began with Chinese art, and Jernigan guided everyone through three different collections of burial pieces, featuring the lid of a mummy tomb, and the metallic piece, “Wagon with Oxen.”\nJernigan spent the majority of her time discussing the Greek burial rituals and then moved onto the Etruscan culture. Jernigan ended the tour talking about a sarcophagus, which was used in Roman culture.\nJunior Britteny Godar explained that she has always been interested in investigating the religion of ancient cultures. Godar said she learned a lot of interesting information from the tour.\n“It was interesting how, across the different cultures, there were similar themes,” Godar said.\nDiara Nicholson, a friend of Godar’s, tagged along because she was in town visiting. Nicholson explained that it was her first trip to the IU Art Museum, and she thoroughly enjoyed the tour.\n“I feel like I’ve taken history for granted, and I want to learn more about it,” Nicholson said.\nDocent Nancy Quigle was present at the tour and explained that, even though she’s a docent herself, she comes because no matter how much she’s studied, she learns something new each time.\n“The person doing the theme studies especially on different facts,” Quigle said. “We like to come because we see things we pass by all the time.”\nQuigle said the docents at the museum lead about 16,000 people on planned tours during the year. The crowd usually consists of school children, so the tours have to follow a curriculum for schools, she said.\n“It’s a really big thing, the educational program of this art museum,” Quigle said.