LOST BUT FOUND (I-III)
– From Dark to Shrine: Three Stories
A cave in the Judean desert, an attic in Egypt, and a basement in Poland – all served as hiding and storage spaces for the three most important caches of writings discovered between 1896 and 1950. The times of the treasures themselves date from 408 BCE–1943. When found, the documents were cared for: dried, cleaned, sorted, organized, and stored safely. Parts of the collections are beautifully displayed in symbolic settings. Further organizing, decoding, and analyzing are being shared within a scholar-led community worldwide.
Although the stories of these important discoveries are intriguingly different, each could easily not have happened. If the documents had been lost, we would be void of the vast light-shedding information, perspectives, and histories they provide – all important pieces of our common heritage.
Rather than focusing on the artifacts themselves, I wove their specific stories of being hidden, discovered, and displayed – as well as their unique storage ‘wrappings’: ceramic jars; dust; and metal boxes and milk cans.
