Site-specific installation using mirror, tracing paper, pvc, gold ink.
4th May 2007 - 28th May 2007, Brighton Buddhist Centre.
I was asked to create an installation for Brighton Buddhist Centre as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.The lotus flower is a buddhist symbol of knowledge emerging from the murky depths.
For the installation “Emerging” I installed a mirror directly under the skylight in the main shrine room. This reflected the sky, prompting references to meditations that ask you to view your thoughts as if they are clouds floating across a blue sky. It also prompted viewers to look about 8 feet below the floor, and created a connection between the sky and earth, with a tangible negative space between. I created a frame around the mirror of lotus leaves sewn by hand using pvc. The pvc had a vein pattern embossed on it which echoed the rubbery texture of lotus leaves. Amongst these leaves and on the mirror I fixed origami lotus flowers of various sizes. These were made from tracing paper to mimic the transparent, fragile and yet solid structure of lotus flowers. Some were sprayed with gold ink, whilst others had buddhists text enscribed on them. The first of these was handwritten in gold ink and was taken from the Puja worship text:-
“With mandarava, blue lotus and jasmine,
With all the flowers pleasing and fragrant,
And with garlands skillfully woven,
I pay honour to the princes of the Sages,
So worthy of veneration.
I envelop them in clouds of incense,
Sweet and penetrating;
I make them offerings of food, hard and soft,
And pleasing kinds of liquids to drink.
I offer them lamps encrusted with jewels,
Festooned with golden lotus,
On the paving, sprinkled with perfume,
I scatter handfuls of beautiful flowers.”
On other flowers the following segment of the Heart Sutra was printed using hand-made stamps in gold ink. These words were also written on strips of tracing paper and placed on the alcove window near the entrance to the shrine room. A glass window in a place that doesn't necessitate a window seemed a perfect illustration of the text.
“Here then,
Form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form,
Form is only emptiness,
Emptiness only form.”
Each element of this installation went through a process of discussion, where I would visit the centre regularly to get feedback on each step as the project evolved. The installation had to fit with the uses of the shrine room, for worship, meditation and classes. "emerging" actually got used as part of walking meditation and became an integral part of the room and it's uses for the month it was installed.
All photography by Ingrid Plum except portrait of Ingrid Plum with Emerging by Ady Griffiths.