The Object

Fire and Rain: The Dragons Next Door

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May 06, 2024 7:04am

22m

People have always imagined dragons among them. But they have always imagined them very differently: helping or hurting, making rain or breathing fire. The difference, of course, is us. A brief, beastly history of the creature we can't live with—or without. You can see many manifestations of dragons, Asian and European, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/dragon You'll find an example of the tiny gilt bronze dragons used in the "tossing dragons" ritual mentioned in this episode here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/12028/dragon-china