Here are some selected images from my sketchbook for the conceptual walking class. I tend to think better when the thoughts are out of my head.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Kumbh Mela
The following info was taken from - http://www.meriyatrra.com/travel-places/kumbh-mela_1.html
Maha Kumbha Mela is held in Allahabad every 12 years. It also takes place in three other holy places in India every 12 years— Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik. The time for Kumbha-mela is judged by the astrological positions of Jupiter and the Sun. In Prayag (Allahabad) the Kumbha-mela takes place during January-February, when Jupiter is in Taurus and the Sun enters Capricorn. The Kumbha-mela in Prayag (Allahabad) is considered especially auspicious. This very interesting event draws about 15 million people and is the largest attended event in the world. A huge temporary city is created for the millions of pilgrims that arrive for the most auspicious bathing days. Kumbha Mela is like a Yogi Convention, where yogis, sadhus (saints), holy people, and pilgrims come from all over India. Many sadhus come from various holy places, the most remote forests, and mountain caves in the Himalayas. The most famous are the Naga Babas, who are completely naked. They cover their bodies only with ash and wear their hair in dreadlocks.
It is said that if one bathes at the Sangam of the Ganges, Yamuna and underground Saraswati on one of the main bathing days during Kumbha Mela that one attains liberation. In the Vishnu Purana it says that one get a great benefit from bathing during Kumbha Mela than performing 1,000 Ashwamedha Yajnas (horse sacrifices) or circumambulating the earth 100,0000 times. It is said that by bathing at Kumbha Mela that all a person’s sins are washed away and that 88 generations of ancestors are benefited.
The main bathing days are known as Shahi Snans or Royal Bathing Days. The main bathing day, when the most people come, was on January 24, on the Mauni Amavasya day (the dark moon), when over 15 million people are said to have bathed. The next main day or Shahi Snan is said to be on Basant Panchami (fifth day of the new moon), January 29. I went to the Kumbha Mela for the important bathing day of Maha Sankranti on January 14th, 2001 (when the sun enters the sign of Capricorn), which is supposed to be the third major bathing day (Shahi Snan) of Kumbha Mela. On this day it is said that around five million people bathed. The festival began on January 9th on Paush Purnima (full moon). The two other main days are Magha Purnima (full moon) on February 8th and Maha Sivaratri (appearance day of Lord Siva) on February 21. 
My Favourite Found Fungi
Here are a number of mushrooms and fungi I have found over the years, mostly in Algonquin Park. There is a wide variety and I have taken hundreds of pictures, but here's just a sampling,
I really should write a sort of personal manifesto about why I love mushrooms so very much, but it would need to be updated far to frequently to make much sense. Instead, these images should suffice for now.
Walking Sculptures
Here is a wonderful TED talk I found. This artist is lovely to listen to discuss his work. He seems filled with a childlike wonder of his works.Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His creatures are designed to move -- and even survive -- on their own.
A truly incredible combination of enginieering, art and wonder.
http://www.ted.com/talks/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures.html
Sunday, 20 November 2011
The Way
I just finished watching the new film The Way with my Dad.
There really aren't appropriate words to describe how it conveys the feeling of a pilgrimage. While the focus is not on the physicality of the journey, most the entire film was dedicated to establishing the weight of emotions and the development of spirituality along the way. Some of the pilgrims in the film started the journey as I had with mine; a basic idea of why, but with no clue as to how much the walk would mean in the end. When they reach Santiago de Compostella, the pilgrims find what they might not have even known what they were looking for, but what their spirits needed.
When you contemplate things as you do on a pilgrimage, your mind changes, your spirit develops. There are so many things that simply cannot be accounted for on journeys of that significance. I can only imagine the effort it would require to make a journey like the El Camino de Santiago, a journey of some 800km through northern Spain. I am absolutely certain that one day I must make a pilgrimage of similar magnitude, but again my reasons are uncertain.
That lack of knowing is the focus of my post right now. The uncertainty with which we begin many things in our lives. Sometimes not knowing why you have begun something can lead to the most beautiful experiences in your life. Imbuing a physical act with such potent spiritual ties is what pilgrimages are all about. It seems to me that to begin a pilgrimage with full understanding of what you hope to accomplish is somewhat contrary to their purpose in the first place.
People make pilgrimages for different reasons; some for penance, some for physical test, and some for religion. But one thing I believe all pilgrims have in common is discovery of one's self. You find out things you never knew about yourself when making journeys of such significance. You find reserves of strength you never felt possible before. You find out what is truly important in your life. The experiences you gain along the way are nothing compared to the aches in your feet, back, hips and knees. They are more than the blisters and the cracked lips and the windburn on your face. The sum of these experiences is transformative. They combine to create a depth of experience unlike many other on this earth.
To make a journey of such weight and importance is something I believe was essential in my life and in the lives of many others. These kinds of events transcend our physical limitation because they are more than a physical act. They are inherently spiritual and filled with self discovery.
A pilgrimage is an awakening.
There really aren't appropriate words to describe how it conveys the feeling of a pilgrimage. While the focus is not on the physicality of the journey, most the entire film was dedicated to establishing the weight of emotions and the development of spirituality along the way. Some of the pilgrims in the film started the journey as I had with mine; a basic idea of why, but with no clue as to how much the walk would mean in the end. When they reach Santiago de Compostella, the pilgrims find what they might not have even known what they were looking for, but what their spirits needed.
When you contemplate things as you do on a pilgrimage, your mind changes, your spirit develops. There are so many things that simply cannot be accounted for on journeys of that significance. I can only imagine the effort it would require to make a journey like the El Camino de Santiago, a journey of some 800km through northern Spain. I am absolutely certain that one day I must make a pilgrimage of similar magnitude, but again my reasons are uncertain.
That lack of knowing is the focus of my post right now. The uncertainty with which we begin many things in our lives. Sometimes not knowing why you have begun something can lead to the most beautiful experiences in your life. Imbuing a physical act with such potent spiritual ties is what pilgrimages are all about. It seems to me that to begin a pilgrimage with full understanding of what you hope to accomplish is somewhat contrary to their purpose in the first place.
People make pilgrimages for different reasons; some for penance, some for physical test, and some for religion. But one thing I believe all pilgrims have in common is discovery of one's self. You find out things you never knew about yourself when making journeys of such significance. You find reserves of strength you never felt possible before. You find out what is truly important in your life. The experiences you gain along the way are nothing compared to the aches in your feet, back, hips and knees. They are more than the blisters and the cracked lips and the windburn on your face. The sum of these experiences is transformative. They combine to create a depth of experience unlike many other on this earth.
To make a journey of such weight and importance is something I believe was essential in my life and in the lives of many others. These kinds of events transcend our physical limitation because they are more than a physical act. They are inherently spiritual and filled with self discovery.
A pilgrimage is an awakening.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Richard Long
I thought it was worth mentioning that the artist that informed my work and thinking over the semester the most has been Richard Long. I repeatedly visited his site and read text about his work for inspiration in my own works over the past few months. Here are some places for people to start if they liked Long's work as well...
video of a talk
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BRUSHED PATH A LINE IN NEPAL A 21 DAY FOOTPATH WALK 1983 |
There are of course many more works that inspired me, and I would like to write more about Richard Long in coming posts, as well as the other artists I researched over the semester.
Pilgrimage route
I just wanted to take a little time to post the route that I traveled along for the Pilgrimage to Nana piece. As you can see the middle section is particularly straight and long, creating some trance inducing qualities.
The line of the route will actually make up a tattoo that I will be getting in the next few weeks, as a sort of drawn reminder of the action. This way I will always be present to explain this particular piece and will always remember the path I traveled for Nana.
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