Seven
Recently I was given the opportunity to write something for an exhibition coming up in July 2022, called Tujuh, a Malay word meaning “seven”.
The question is, however, what do I write? Do I write specifically for the exhibition, i.e., about the artists, why seven, etc.? Or do I write something more general about the phenomenon of ‘seven’ being prevalent in our lives?
Essentially, the curator said he’d prefer something along the lines of the latter. Which is fine by me. There are, however, a multitude of things about ‘seven’ that I could write about. So many, in fact, it becomes a challenge to find a good approach; what, exactly, should I write about?
I guess it’s always how to start that is the most difficult stage when it comes to how I write. Hence this entry, a sort of brain fart to help me get started.
Some ideas, to date, both serious and wacky ones, in no particular order:
- Seven facts/things you may not have known about ‘seven’
- Make the essay/write-up 777 words (word limit given was 600–800 words, so that might work)
- Start the essay with the silly kids joke, Why is Six afraid of Seven?
- Take a high falutin philosophical approach about the number seven features in many major world beliefs/religions (frankly, I don’t like this particular approach)
- Why ‘seven’? Actually, this question can be answered in a number of ways, since I do have some background of its relevance to the exhibition, the participating artists, and the venue in Penang where the exhibition will be held
- How we take things for granted (like how prevalent the number ‘seven’ is in our everyday life), and how this is indirectly addressed by the exhibition (but this is kind of a stretch, if I’m completely honest)
In reading up on the prevalence of the number ‘seven’, there were a few surprising factoids I came across. Like how there came to be 7 days in our week (this dates back to ancient Mesopotamia apparently), having to do with the 7 major celestial objects visible to the naked eye.
Along the way I also thought of kueh lapis, a favorite snack of mine. To my dismay, I discovered that this delicacy comprises NINE layers… damn. So that won’t work.
So what to do? Well, I guess the logical next step is to record every single seven-related bit of information I can scour. Only then might a clear direction reveal itself.
I just hope I don’t end up with seven possibilities, each with seven branches…