Thangka

2024

Mixed media installation: oil, acrylic, gold leaf on canvas, satin, eggshells, Dao (Vietnamese sword), metal bowl, wooden box, hair

Questions of identity, consciousness, and othering are constant in my work. The installation is inspired by Tibetan thangka paintings (religious Buddhist scrolls used for personal meditation or instruction). The viewer is confronted by two figures, cultural imagery, hints of mythology and symbols. One figure holds a sword that has been physically sliced straight through the scroll. Back bent, the other figure hovers while in transformation. Both are bound together by hair.

In the foreground sits a stack of objects: a sword, a metal bowl and closed box with long black hair spilling from it. The sword is completely covered in an eggshell veneer inspired by Vietnamese sơn mài. Unlike a traditional formal stretched canvas that is installed permanently, the scroll's location is impermanent, meant to be easily rolled up and migrate.  In contrast to traditional Thangkas, this work provides no moral lessons or conclusions. Rather, I hope to provoke the viewer to ask questions that I myself cannot answer: of ways of being and moving.