Aspects of yourselves and otherwise
Featuring works by: Michael Moreth, Awkward, Terry Murray, Allie Joy, Oleg Khe, Michelle Exhales, Kalam Dhari, Lucy Mcloughlin
Arranged by: Lee Ju-Lyn
Part 2
“So, these ‘class structure’, gender identity, even religious identity are acquired identity, and what we acquired in life are conditioned… From birth we do not have a sense of separate self…”
Ajahn Sumedho (2021), What to do with One’s life?,
Youtube talk, Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
One of the fundamental, but also more abstract, concepts of Buddhism is its ideas of “self” and “not-self” (anattā).
Contrary to popular misconception, the Buddha did not assert that there is no such thing as “self”, but rather, he explained that the many things that we tend to associate as “self” or “self-definitions” are actually false and “not-part of the self”. This is directly related in the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta, the Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic (Saṁyutta Nikāya 22.59) , in which the Buddha explains that neither form, feeling, perception, fabrications, nor consciousness are the self, for they do not conform to our command or will… Thus, the Buddha’s suggestion is to let go of the wrong-views of associating things to be one’s “self” or the ego, for it will inevitably lead to various forms of suffering through motivating unskillful action or clinging.
Nevertheless, elsewhere in his teachings, the Buddha often referred to the idea of self in a positive manner. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s The Not Self Strategy points us to when the Buddha stated that the self is its own mainstay (Dhp 160) or when he encouraged a group of young men—who were searching for a woman who had stolen their belongings—to search for the self instead (Mv.I.14.4). The essay illuminates the intricacies of this issue, and explains that the “self” and “not-self” are both strategies that can applied to help one achieve the Buddhist purpose, which is to be liberated from suffering and stress.
As we know, self-portraits, autobiographies, and the idea of “self” are popular mainstays of many artists’ research as well. Since ancient times, artists explore and relate how the self is situated in relation with the world. The submissions to BAM are also varied in the way the artists present different aspects of themselves.
Guided by the Buddha’s direction “to search for the self instead”, this article presents and reflects on the self-conceptions in some of the self-portraits and other artwork submissions and invites you, dear audience, to reflect if you also think of yourselves in similar way…
As you consider the works and the different perspectives, dear viewers, you are invited to think along some reflective questions and apply the contemplation onto yourselves…
Do you also think of your “self” in this way or similar ways?
Does it help you become more or less stressed?
Material Possessions, Memories, and Hoarding, Relationships
Michael Moreth is a recovering Chicagoan living in the micropolitan City of Sterling, the Paris of Northwest Illinois. His submissions were not accompanied by write-ups so I’ve taken the liberty to apply my personal interpretation.
The artwork reminds me of my grandmother, who used to wear Bobby pins in her head even as she slept. As a child, I slept next to her. And in the morning, she put bobby pins in my hair as she combed and braided it before I went to school. I still wear them in my hair sometimes too, although, not as neatly.
Another memory I associate with them is my wedding day and probably had hundreds of these in my hair. When I pulled them out, some of them were misshaped. I probably still have them somewhere because I don’t like to throw things away.
Bobby pins are easily misplaced, replaced, but they never really wear out and are usually somewhere. I probably learnt to “hoard” things from my grandmother too.
Bobby Pin 2020
4 x 6 inches Cut-and-pasted paper.
Michael Moreth, Sterling, IL USA
Do you have material possessions that remind you of people or relationships?
Do you find them difficult to let go off? Do these memories bring you more stress or freedom?
Imagine letting go of some of these things, do you feel less you?
To what extent are “you” defined by your relationships and status?
Parent, spouse, child, grandchild, married, single… Are these social selves really yourselves?
Experiences and location in physical environment
This work by Awkward (Singapore) encapsulates his travels in India, an experience which he relates as being defining of that period of his life. His works deal with interlacing ideas inspired from everyday norms, current affairs, fusion of cultures, social behaviours and finding connection to the human spirit.
How does the external physical environment or location and traveling make you feel?
Do you feel more or less “essentially you” when removed from your regular environment and possessions?
2015 Pen on paper
Awkward http://aaaawkwaaaard.carbonmade.com
Elements and the physical world
In this Five Elements Buddha, Terry Murray might be referring to the Buddhist view of elements being the basic constituents of the world, which all physical things can be reduced to, namely earth, fire, wind, water, and space.
Some meditation techniques recommend contemplation of the physical body in terms of how it might be composed with the various elements… consider the following quote from Ajahn Thanissaro (https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Transcripts/160613_A_Mind_Like_Earth.pdf)
Five Elements Buddha 2020
380cm H 310cm W 180cm D assemblage & acrylic paint
Terry Murray www.creativepilgrimjourney.com
‘When the Buddha taught meditation to Rahula, his son, he started out by saying, “Make your mind like earth.” People throw disgusting things on the earth, but the earth doesn’t shrink away in disgust. Make your mind like water, wind, fire. Water washes away dirty things, wind blows dirty things around, fire burns garbage, but none of them are disgusted by the filth… then
the Buddha goes on to teach Rahula many other contemplations and finally gets him to work with the breath.’
Physical appearance, likeness, presence, recognition, validation, perception…
In developmental psychology, it is thought that children start developing a sense of self when they can recognise their own physical image. Apparently, studies done on animals have shown that not all animals are able to recognise themselves in a mirror, which have been interpreted to mean that they do not have a sense of identity.
What actually takes place when one recognises one’s own image? One is “seeing”, “perceiving”, “recognising”… but one is also “being seen”, “being perceived”, “being recognised”… is thus one “claiming” or “learning” that “this physical appearance” or "physical body” that is “present” in front of the mirror… is “me” or “mine”?
Allie Joy’s “Sikhona, a powerful greeting meaning “I am here”, is inspired by the African language Zulu. It validates being seen for one who is present. Using retinal photography, this work speaks of the physical aspect of seeing someone and the nerves involved in this energic exchange. The physical and metaphysical are a mirror of each other.”
Sikhona 2014
15cm diameter projection sculpture
Allie Joy helloalliejoy(at)gmail.com
When standing in front of a mirror…Do you identify…
With the perceiver of the image in the mirror?
The physical self who is standing in front of the mirror?
Or the image in the mirror?
Or does that image belong to you, or is but a representation or version of you?
What about the physical eye… are you the owner of the eye and retina and the image of the self on your retina?
Or are you the self who is perceiving the eyeball rolling around in its socket?
Alter egos and gender identities
“It has become customary for me to speak from a female face. Draw and explain the feelings that I wanted to express. Or vice versa - first feel, and then draw.
Creating an alter ego, especially if it is of the opposite sex, makes it possible to stretch your feelings and develop empathy. It becomes a good way to become a little more tolerant in a world in which hostility and violence are growing like a snowball. When I draw, I pass through a woman's story, there is not only fear, pain or despair, but also desires, hopes, light. A journey into another image as a chance to live a second life when everyone is content with one.”
Oleg Khe from Kazakhstan is trained in journalism and he is married with three children.
Imagine yourself with an alter ego of another gender, how differently would you feel assuming that identity?
What qualities do your alter egos have that are similar or different to your “regular ego”?
To myself tenderly 2022
2627х3183 pix Drawing
Oleg Khe https://www.facebook.com/he.oleg/
“Spirit objects”
‘Michelle Exhales' is a psychologist in her "day job" and an active contemporary, “contemplative artist” in that she makes art as a meditation, for reflection, an act of kindness, as a prayer, and as a way of investigating and understanding her own nature and the nature of the cosmos.
One of her spirit creatures is the 'Damun' as per the language of the Gadigal people. It is a type of figtree native to the East Coast of Australia. It is also known as 'rusty fig' and English called it the 'Port Jackson' as they encountered it at this the first colonial outpost. It is very adaptive and is able to take root in a wide variety of places such as farm fields, city walls and rocky outcrops. Damun comes to her in visions in both dreams and waking states. This drawing was completed from the compiled memories of a number of particular Damuns in the area where the artist lived for many years in the inner city of Sydney.
Do you identify with a spirit tree or animal?
What are some qualities that attracted your affinity?
Deep adaptation
Objectionable intention
Dark metamorphosis
Perfect mutation
Unlimited substance
Underneath the figtree
2015
56x76cm Pigment ink pen on archival paper
Michelle Exhales michelle.exhales(at)gmail.com
“Soul”
“This is a self portrait depicting an innocent, beguiling, all encompassing and ever empathetic soul as a black dot. The layers surrounding it are the layers of protective walls like flexible impregnable membranes. As the layers progress it is stressed and pressure-tested during various instances of everyday life(symbolized by the sharp corners). Of these instances some leave a lasting injury. But the soul remains intact and undamaged by these instances. “
Shikha Baheti Lohia is an emerging artist from Hyderabad, India making predominantly achromatic drawings in pen and ink on paper under the pseudonym Kalam Dhari meaning ‘Pen Wielder’ in Hindi.
Do you identify with having a “soul”?
What are some qualities of your “soul”?
Where did your “soul” come from? Did it exist before your physical birth? And where is your “soul” going to go after physical death?
2019 27.2x42 pen and ink drawing
Kalam Dhari, sbaheti1(at)gmail.com
Social conditioning and values
Lucy Mcloughlin is an independent artist and illustrator currently living in Singapore she was convinced by others to prioritise materialistic gains to study law and abandon art for most of her college years. She started experimenting with spray paint, pencils, and acrylics again in 2013. Of this artwork, she shares…
“If we close our eyes and reach to our core, our true self, our essence we will allow ourselves to float in the expansive ocean of the universe. Instead we mostly choose to stay hidden in our shells made up of all of our conditioning layers imposed by society, while time is slipping through- Going through life missing the secrets of the universe.”
What are some values that you have been “socially conditioned” conditioned to have? Do they lead to more or less stress in the long term?
At which points in your life were you “educated” with these values? Who shared them with you? Are they really “yours”? Would you rather give them up or retain them? Which would be more helpful in the longer term?
What are some Buddhist values you have adopted?
How did you adopt them and how have they made a difference to “you”?
2021 132 x 159 Digital
Lucy Mcloughlin Www.atlucys.com