Swords should be celebrated not only as weapons, but as works of art, according to Antonio Conceicao, artistic consultant to the Macau Museum of Art.
'Swords were highly functional in the past,' he says. 'Kings and leaders bore elaborately decorated swords to manifest their political and manly power, whereas common soldiers used plain swords in battles. Since then, swords have been perceived as tools for killing and people's prejudice against them passes on through education. They found it just too intimidating to place swords in art museums.'
To overturn such views, Conceicao, 54, a sword collector and amateur sword designer, is putting on the world's first contemporary sword exhibition, Masters of Fire - International Exhibition of Contemporary Blade Smiths, at the museum.
The exhibition features 18 handcrafted swords produced by contemporary bladesmiths from nine countries, including China, Japan, the US and New Zealand. Accessories made of steel, such as watches, jewellery and knives, will also be on display.
Conceicao says the exhibition is a good place for people to find out how steel (which dates from about 250 BC) prevailed through the course of human's civilisation.
'In the ancient past, bladesmiths were the sacred ones because they dared to upset the balance of Mother Nature and extract iron ore from it, which is later made into steel,' he says. 'Although machine guns have replaced swords in modern warfare, the influence of steel is still present in our society, particularly in architecture, although it's deviated from how ancient mankind chose to use it.'
Despite its limited scale, the exhibition seeks to address broader and controversial social issues such as globalisation through art. By admiring how culturally specific each sword is, visitors are reminded of their heritage and cultural roots, Conceicao says.