Title: Spiritual Growth
Summary Of Project- My work is about forming a lotus with a particular hand gesture in mudras called the budding lotus and putting them together in to the growing stages of lotus.
According to Hinduism, The lotus is the foremost symbol of beauty, prosperity and fertility; with in each human inhabiting the earth is the spirit of the sacred lotus. One of the most common metaphysical analogies compares the lotus' perennial rise to faultless beauty from a miry environment to the evolution of man's consciousness--from instinctive impulses to spiritual liberation. At the same time hands are considered to be the creators (Brahma) and the breakers so hands are one of the main routes to reach the level of Nirvana.
Objective-
I am inclined towards spirituality and would like my viewer to experience a beautiful serene artwork. I would like the viewer to enjoy the gesture and get the mysterious and divine feeling with Sanskrit mantras on the written on the hand hands. At the same time showing the stages of reaching solidity through hands in the form of the growth of a lotus.
These hands would carry mantras in colour red as it’s the most holy colour in Indian tradition and these Mantras are a path to reach solace or nirvana.
Whenever I travel abroad I realize that we use our hands much more than words to convey or to enquire something due to language problems.
The hand in Hinduism is given a lot of significance its called the Karmahartha (the doer) the maker and the breaker. Most of our Karmas are dependant on the hand. So the whole idea of the hand and the lotus are linked in a way. The growth pattern of the lotus signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment. So I would aspire to get together these hands doing a particular mudra and forming into a lotus with spiritual text on it.
In Indian belief its said that the highest state attainable in the realm of samara (round of rebirth) before attaining the clear light of nirvana which is white in colour, one must achieve the characteristics associated with each color in hopes of attaining the final white light (which is essentially a combination of all colors). This whole meaning of the colour white and its connection to spirituality attracts me to keep my installation white with red text on it.
Outcome:
1 sculpture of an open lotus with spiritual Mantras,
3 photographs and 1 unresolved work proposing for the next semester- the growing of the souls
Method and materials-photography and installation art.
Photography done in series for the same work
Some experiments for the same
