....You Look Like A Monkey and You Smell Like One Too

Paris My 40^th Birthday

In her essay Mickey, Minnie and Mecca; Destination Disney World, Pilgrimage in the Twentieth Century Cher Krause Knight declared that all pilgrimages, whether secular or ecclesiastical share the basic component of a journey, that of achieving a specific goal. Always spiritual and usually physical most pilgrimages are said to be centripetal, a journey that tends to move towards a centre. Such a notion Knight states conforms to French ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennap’s (1873-1957) tripartite model concerning the rites of passage; separation from the home community, transition or liminality, and reincorporation into society. For Knight Walt Disney World, a place where “time and space are collapsed in eternal, freeze-dried (much like Walt Disney is reputed to be himself) images of American culture” should be included among the secular pilgrimages of the twentieth century. Other sites include Lenin’s tomb, the Vietnam War Memorial and Elvis Presley’s Graceland.  

      Fig 1 M King “Caroline, Master of Ceremonies, Paris” March 2012  

The term liminal derives from a Latin word meaning “a threshold”. Liminality refers to a conscious or unconscious psychological, neurological or metaphysical subjective state, of being on the “threshold” of or between two different existential planes, as defined in neurological psychology, as a liminal state and through the anthropological theories of ritual by van Gennap and British cultural anthropologist Victor Turner (1920-83).

Developed by van Gennap and later by the Turner, the term liminality is used to “refer to in-between situations and conditions that are characterized by the dislocation of established structures, the reversal of hierarchies, and uncertainty regarding the continuity of tradition and future outcomes”. (Horvath et al, 2009)

In 1909 van Gennap published his Rites de Passage, a work that is considered essential to the development of his concept relating to liminality in the context of rituals in small scale societies. In identifying various categories of rites van Gennap distinguished between those that signify transitions in the passage of time and those that result in a change of status. Van Gennap placed a particular emphasis on rites of passage and claimed that “such rituals marking, helping, or celebrating individual or collective passages through the cycle of life or of nature exist in every culture, and share a specific three-fold sequential structure”. (Szakolczai A, 2009 p. 141)

Van Gennap’s three fold structure consisted of

·        Pre-liminal rites (or rites of separation)

·        Liminal rites (or transition rites)

·        Postliminal rites (or rites of incorporation)

Pre-liminal Rites

The initial stage of pre-liminal rites or rites of separation involves a metaphorical “death”. The participant is forced to leave something behind by breaking with previous routines and practices.

Liminal Rites

 These rites involve the creation of a tabula rasa, a blank state, through the removal of limits and forms which were previously taken for granted. These rites consist of two essential characteristics.

·        The rite must abide by an arranged sequence, where everybody knows what they are to do and how.

·        Everything must be done under the authority of a master of ceremonies.

The destructive nature of this rite allows for considerable changes to be made to the

participant’s identity. This is the stage where transition takes place implying a passing through the threshold that distinguishes between two phases which is characterized by the term liminality.

Post-liminal Rites

During this stage the participant is re-incorporated back into society with a new identity, in affect they are a new being. Van Gennap believed his tripartite sequence; inherent in all ritual passages was one of universality.

An anthropological ritual, especially a rite of passage such as my 40^th birthday was said

by Turner to involve some change to my self. In the first phase, that of separation, some kind of symbolic behavior signifies my detachment from an earlier fixed point within my social structure. My status becomes liminal and through this situation I live outside my normal environment, questioning my self and “the existing social order through a series of rituals that often involve acts of pain: the initiants come to feel nameless, spatio-temporally dislocated and socially unstructured”. These liminal periods are deemed both destructive and constructive meaning that “the formative experiences during liminality will prepare the initiand (and his/her cohort) to occupy a new social role or status, made public during the reintegration rituals”. (Thomassen B, 2006 p. 322)

Through his work Turner became more aware that liminality “...served not only to

identify the importance of in-between periods, but also to understand the human reactions to liminal experiences: the way liminality shaped personality, the sudden foregrounding of agency, and the sometimes dramatic tying together of thought and experience”. (Thomassen B, 2006 p. 322)  

                       Turner believed the qualities of liminality are necessarily ambiguous and through such rituals as the rites of passage, the participant’s sense of identity becomes somewhat dissolved resulting in some degree of disorientation but also involves the possibility of new perspectives.  Turner posits, that if “liminality is regarded as a time and place of withdrawal from normal modes of social action, it potentially can be seen as a period of scrutiny for central values and axioms of the culture where it occurs”. (Turner V. 1969. p. 156) As Szakolczai states in such situations, “the very structure of society is temporarily suspended”. (Szakolczai A. 2009. p. 142) Homas states that according to Turner liminality eventually dissolves because as a state of huge intensity it cannot exist for very long if no structure exists to stabilize it. Either that structure is developed in what Turner called “normative communitas” or the participant returns to their surrounding social structure.

I thought I was just going to Paris. 

            For me, my pilgrimage defined as a journey made for sentimental reasons focuses on Paris, France. In three days time I will be 40 years old, a mile stone, and a rite of passage. Ten years ago, for my 30^th birthday I was in Australia and to mark the event I travelled to Sydney and with the aim of experiencing something new I went to a symphony at the Sydney opera House. This year I am having dinner, with Caroline at the Eiffel Tower. 

My goal was to achieve something more than a new experience to mark the occasion, it was to also escape from my surroundings, to be in a city of strangers where my birthday would slip by relatively unnoticed, where I would not be the centre of attention and not be made to feel forty.

I feel that my desire to get away has a subconscious relationship to Van Gennap and Turner’s discourse on the rites of passage. Caroline has organised everything fulfilling the role of Master of Ceremony, the animals are sorted out and my sister has kindly offered to drive us to the pick up point. (Fig 1) Everybody seems to know what to do and I am grateful. Potentially it is a time to reflect and scrutinize opening myself up to the possibility of new perspectives.

           Fig 2 M King “Imdugud, Down End, Croyde” March 2012

 Sunday 11^th march 2012

Soft, silky waves peeled along the sandbank somewhere around Down End I say somewhere because I was surrounded by a heavy mist. (Fig 2) I felt as though I were paddling through Acheron, the Greek “river of woe”. With no site of the beach, the rocks or any other point of reference it was disorientating. Occasionally someone else riding some form of wave craft appeared out of the dense mist. They were few and far between. There was no wind and the only sound was the waves breaking on the shore. If I was sat out the back it was only because no waves broke beyond where I sat. How far out I was sitting was a mystery until a wave rolled in.

When I got out of the sea and walked up the beach I walked out of the mist into bright sunshine. I felt as though I had crossed my first threshold.

Tonight I leave for Paris, France. It will be more than a week before I get back into the sea. I will be 40.  

Monday 12^th March 2012

           Fig 3 M King “Coach Ride” March 2012

I’m sat in one of those liminal spaces, the lounge at the Eurostar waiting to board the train, prior to that it was the coach journey from Somerset into London, followed by a tube ride to St Pancras station. (Fig 3 and 4) Divorced from my normal social structures the spaces float past like the humdrum, monotonous rhythmic clatter of a train ride. People wander past at varying speeds wheeling their cases about them, a hub of transition. Moving, waiting, moving, waiting and so the chain continues in a linear, centripetal motion towards the capital city of Paris.

 Fig 4 M King “Tube Ride” March 2012 

The thing about places of transition is the repetitive nature of everything. The lounge feels like a dead space, a dead zone. I’m living in a Hopper painting. (Fig 5)

Fig 5 M King “Eurostar Lounge, St Pancras Station, London” March 2012 

              A new experience today suitcases with castors that spin 360 degrees allowing me to move my case gracefully about me, a dance around the stations and lounges of my journey, simple things.

As I board the train I am conscious yet again of the work of Hamish Fulton and his notion that the experience of a walk or in my case this journey cannot be conveyed in a photograph. All you can convey is a state of mind. My senses are on overdrive trying to take it all in, trying to record and convey my journey in terms of van Gennap and Turner’s discourse on rites of passage. Yet whilst I am seeing the countryside drift past, looking down the aisle of the train, listening to the conversations about me, smelling the air, tasting the cool refreshing beer, feeling every surface I touch (and often thinking I need to sanitise my hands) I think how can I convey all this. I soon come to realise that if I continue with this pressure I will forget to relax and simply enjoy the experience. What matters is now the rest can be left to memory.

As you move through the English countryside from London towards the channel tunnel you go through a rather industrial landscape. As we enter the tunnel babies simultaneously start crying throughout the carriage. I guess it’s the pressure but flying out of the tunnel into France it feels peaceful. It is still overcast and the light is flat but you experience a different landscape of open fields and agriculture. However, the smooth ride from London has been replaced by a bumpy transition. It seems our engineering is still among the best.        

Eventually we settle into the hotel and stretch our legs. Being in the Latin Quarter means we are within walking distance to almost wherever and so I begin to experience the magnificence of Paris. Notre Dame at night is amazing yet I am at a loss as to be able to convey this. Its grandeur is felt within. All my sense comes alive. Yet I am also feeling weary and nervous. (Fig 6)

      Fig 6 M King “Notre Dame, Paris” March 2012 

 Tuesday 13^th March 2012

I know I cannot convey my experience even Caroline sat next to me cannot feel what I am feeling or read my thoughts. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and we are sat on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris. People surround us tourists and Parisians. (Fig 7 and 8)  Not everyone is here for the view some are here to make money, to hassle. These experiences negate my feelings towards Paris but I have to except it, to be tolerant. However, moments up until this point today have affected my mood. If we haven’t been ripped off in the street by people finding gold rings or donating to the deaf and dumb then the price of a coffee, a “grande” beer or a” jambon baguette” have made me feel fed up. (Fig 9) Maybe this refers to Thomassen’s form of pain. These negative experiences stick with you, at least with me in what seems to be a balance between light and dark, yin and yang. Learn to except them and move on.

       Fig 7 M King “Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris” March 2012 

      Fig 8 M King “View from the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris” March 2012        

      Fig 9 M King "Le Grande Bierre” March 2012

Wednesday 14^th March 2012 – My Birthday

            Today I am 40 years old. Paris is amazing. The architecture and the layout are truly spectacular. However, I always seem to be coming back to Fulton and the understanding that the experience cannot be conveyed through the photograph. Only a state of mind can be conveyed which I believe is true, yesterday was evident of that. One of the prevailing experiences of yesterday was that my feet ached which detracts from the whole day. I am also beginning to understand what Turner means when stating the liminality eventually dissolves due to its intensity. Yet within the time and space of now I want to experience as much as possible despite the negative feelings of the moment.

            The only way to experience walking up to the Louvre, through the gardens to the Jau de Paume, seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time in the distance through the city haze amongst the splendor of the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Palais or the Place de la Concorde is to visit. (Fig 10 and 11) Yet it is more than just experiencing these sites it is as Krause, van Gennap and Turner posit a pilgrimage, a spiritual and physical journey which mark and celebrate a passage through the cycle of life.

    Fig 10 M King “View to the Eiffel Tower, Paris” March 2012

     Fig 11 M King “View to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris” March 2012           

                          I had a dream last night relating to a visit the previous day to an exhibition by the architect, sculptor, photographer, blogger, Twitterer, interview artist and political activist, Ai Weiwei. The dream concerned a picture I had made of him entitled, I believe “(Mis)-appropriated pictures of Ai Weiwei”. In the dream Weiwei challenged me wanting to charge me for using his name in the image so I said does that mean you pay so much towards the Han Dynasty for using their name in an image. (Fig 12) What this means I have no idea but of all the images within the exhibition this series stood out. He seems disaffected in his reaction to dropping the Han Dynasty urn but I disagree. His toes on is right foot seem to convey a moment of feeling that conflicts with the appearance of detachment that his face conveys.

            Maybe the dream relates to the fact that I did take some covert photographs and Caroline who wanted to take a picture of me listening to some dialogue through headphones got told off. She was also told off for touching a picture which at the time made my stomach tighten with despair but shortly afterwards made me laugh.

      Fig 12 M King “(Mis)-appropriated pictures of Ai Weiwei, Jau de Paume, Paris” March 2012

                       

           

            The over-riding experiences of today have been dinner at the Eiffel Tower (reinforced by the fact that we had to pay an extra 10 Euros for the lift up to the restaurant), the Catacombes de Paris and lunch at the Galeries Lafayette with the dust of death on my boots. 

 

 

                                                      Fig 13 M King “Eiffel Tower, Paris” March 2012 

 

                               Fig 14-18 M King and C Hooper “58 Tour Eiffel, Paris” March 2012

                       Fig 15

                          

  

                       Fig 16 

                       Fig 17                                                                                        

     Fig 18

     Fig 19 M King “Catacombes de Paris" March 2012

     Fig 20 Hooper "Lunch at Galeries Lafayette” March 2012  

Saturday 17^th March 2012

            Home.

If I could take one effecting memory away from this disorientating, culturally intense journey it would be the painting by Paul Delaroche “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” (1833). Seeing this painting in the Louvre was extraordinary. Its affect did not necessarily transgress onto Caroline but I guess that sums up the whole journey. Everyone’s experience is unique and personal.

           

            I have passed through the metaphorical threshold of my thirties into my forties and when I write that I feel…something. I cannot think of it as being old but the transition was not as difficult as ten years ago when I felt very self-analytical and depressed.

       Fig 21 C Hooper “Portrait of Mark King, Paris” March 2012 

            As for my re-incorporation back into society I had a cup of tea with my sister and her family and later with my mum to chat about our holiday for the rest I’m hoping that I have been gone long enough so that I can just slip back into life as if nothing has happened. Whilst everything has changed, everything remains the same.

            Throughout Paris as with home and other places I have visited there seems to be this dichotomy between the past and the present, the landscape and our indexical footprint on it. Life (Fig22-40)

       Fig 22 M King “Musee du Louvre, Paris” March 2012

           Fig 23 M King “Saint-Michel, Paris” March 2012

                           Fig 24 “Bridge, Paris” March 2012

         Fig 25 M King “View from Bridge, Seine, Paris” March 2012

                    Fig 26 M King “View from Bridge, Seine, Paris”         Fig 27 M King “Queue, Catacombes de Paris" 

                    March 2012                                                March 2012

                             Fig 28 M King “View to Palais du Luxembourg” March 2012

  

                                                                 Fig 29 “Catacombes de Paris” March 2012 

                                                                 Fig 30 M King " Catacombes de Paris" March 2012 

                                          

     Fig 31 M King " Catacombes de Paris" March 2012

  

                  Fig 32 M King "View from Bridge" March 2012                Fig 33 M King “Rue de la Colombe, Paris” March 2012 

              

      Fig 34 M King “View to Notre Dame, Paris” March 2012

                     Fig 35 M King “Bridge” March 2012                            Fig 36 M King “Seine, Paris” March 2012 

                                        

                          Fig 37 M King “Bridge, Paris” March 2012 

     Fig 38 M King “Musee du Louvre, Paris” March 2012            

     Fig 39 M King “Eruostar, France” March 2012

                   Fig 40 M King “Musee du Louvre, Paris” March 2012

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Homas P, 1979 Jung in Context London

Horvath A, Thomassen B, and Wydra H, 2009 Introduction: Liminality and Cultures of Change (International Political Anthropology
Perlmutter D and Koppman D, 1999 Reclaiming The Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-cultural Perspectives Albany: University NY Press

Szakolczai A, 2009 Liminality and Experience: Structuring transitory situations and transformative events International Political Anthropology

Thomassen B, 2006 The Encyclopedia of Social Theory London

Turner V, 1967 The Forest of Symbols Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press

Turner V, 1969 The Ritual Process Penguin 1969

All images copyright to Mark King

In Search of the Spiritual

The Shoreline, Down End, Croyde, Devon, England Feb 23rd 2012 

"I’m finding my actions meditative. The collecting offers me a connection with my surroundings. I feel a sense of oneness; the soft sound of the ocean in the near distance, traffic at an equal end, birds and the wind, the trickle of a gentle flow of water recedes back towards the shoreline. It feels very still among the rocks. To cleanse the shore is to sanctify both within and without. The art is I feel in the process as much as the finished object..” 

                                                                                                                            – M King

                                M. King “The Shoreline, Down End, Croyde, Devon, England” (Feb 2012)  

The Sacred

            In finding the collecting a meditative process I am conscious of Lynda Sexson’s notion of finding the sacred qualities in mundane experiences. As Shantz states such a notion is not of Christian origin but rather relates to a feminist redefinition of what is sacred. A definition that extends from women’s exclusion and devalue from organised religion.  Whilst Christianity sees matter and spirit as separate, historian of religion and art, John W. Dixon believes the two are aspects of our own self and not opponents or parts of a higher synthesis.

Whilst I find these mundane experiences sacred I am also conscious of the disassociation between contemporary art and religion and because of this disassociation Koppman writes that it would be wrong to assume that shared meanings and a common language exist between the two. Yet, it is Christian and Jewish ideologies that have informed our Western interpretation of the sacred in both art and the practice of art criticism. For Koppman, even if people of the same religion did relate to shared meanings, cultural differences make it necessary for us to continually question what we assume to be and our use of language. A feminist redefinition of art allows us to reconsider the possibility that contemporary manifestations of the sacred exist within art.

Contemporary feminist ideas of the sacred Koppman highlights are primarily cross-cultural ideas syncretised through what some believe to be women’s status within archaeological periods and the world’s religious traditions resulting in new contemporary meanings and images.  As Koppman sets out precise meanings of the spiritual differ cross-culturally and there is a great diversity in the experiences and definitions of the sacred within our own society, between men and women and between people of different ethnic backgrounds. She believes the Western definition of the spiritual refers to a single worldview which is believed to be unchangeable and true.

As Nicholson sets out, the notion of feminism owes much to the Enlightenment in terms of social progress and the unifying social category of “woman” but I believe it is of interest to consider how brutal feminist approaches, such as the work of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) have attacked organised religion whilst at the same time re-establishing and re-defining what Koppman describes as a contemporary notion of the sacred. I feel it is also of interest that whilst we may be witnessing a reclaiming of the spiritual in art from, as Perlmutter and Koppman posit a variety of cross-cultural perspectives, it was through the Enlightenment that society witnessed a further disassociation between art and religion thus resulting in the majority of contemporary Western artists, critics and philosophers engaging in what has been perceived to be an entirely secular activity. For Perlmutter the subjugation of the spiritual in art developed out of ancient Judaic-Christian concept of idolatry and the battle for political control.

A Sense of Oneness

In terms of feeling a sense of oneness with my surroundings as I collect I feel rooted, the art for me is not in the finished object, the photograph but in the process. I feel a sense of fulfilment and through my actions I feel I am experiencing a sense of place, a connection to my surroundings which is experienced through all my senses, an experience that cannot be conveyed through a photograph. This is something that Hamish Fulton (b.1946) recognized and understood in believing that a framed work of art is more about a state of mind, as it is not possible to convey the experience of a walk.

A central characteristic of Fulton’s work, as with Richard Long (b. 1945) is a direct physical engagement with the landscape. Fulton leaves no formal mark of intervention whilst Long’s work, like my own does. Long sculptures the landscape by making lines, for example “A Line Made by Walking England” (1967) whereas I collect and remove the detritus that continues to amass throughout the landscape to which I inhabit. More than this my aim is to produce photographs of the landscape which convey to the viewer a sense, as Barthes calls it, of the “habitable, not visitable”. (Barthes, 2000, p. 38)  

The state of mind Fulton refers to, for me, in some respects relates to the Sanskrit word Rasa which describes the emotional fulfilment experienced through art. Rasa refers to sensuous pleasure as well as taste and achieves a sense of oneness between the viewer and the work of art.

            From very early in the classical period of Indian culture art played two distinctive roles providing a means of instruction showing people how to improve themselves and in giving pleasure thus engaging human emotion. The value of art was deemed to be a transformative experience rather than explicit or didactic lessons.

The theory of Rasa which is at the core of Indian aesthetics was redefined by the Indian aesthetician Abhinavagupta (950-1020 C.E). Abhinavagupta believed that people are born with an instinctive ability to experience what he differentiated into nine states of mind; happiness, pride, laughter, sorrow, anger, disgust, fear, wonder and tranquillity and when the viewer is able to clear their mind from outside distractions and become completely immersed in a work of art then these emotions are transformed into affective responses that are associated with art. For Abhinavagupta art has the ability of transcending both artist and viewers away from the mundane experiences of daily life.

The transformative experience expressed through the theory of Rasa relates to the aesthetics of transformation that, as Koppman posits has origins in other religious traditions where art and the sacred are integral to each other, such as the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, Yoruba culture or the Eskimo’s. Other categories of aesthetics that are included are the aesthetics of invocation, process, energy, improvisation and magic. All these overlapping and recurring themes evident from worldly cultures suggest to Koppman that a contemporary re-spiritualization of art is underway.

For Shantz, oneness is redefined as a “lived awareness of our connectedness to other human and nonhuman life” by artists who share an ecological imperative.  (Perlmutter and Koppman, 1999, p. 63) As a postmodernism society we are, as Perlmutter and Koppman highlight trying to reconnect art with life; questioning the purpose, meaning and function of art in relation to society, questions that were raised in the late twentieth century by feminist artists and artists such as Joseph Beuys (1921-1986). For Beuys who believed in an alchemical spiritual art, the artistic process, the place where the transformation occurs, is as important as the finished art object, the “residue”.

A Sense of Place

One form of art which utilizes the place where transformation occurs, is Earthwork, Environmental, Land or Ecological art which for Howard Smagula is defined as “art that encompasses our relationship with plants and animals, the geologic history of the earth, the symbolic meaning of shelter, and changing socioeconomic relationships”. (Perlmutter and Koppman, 1999, p. 13) From a spiritual perspective, Perlmutter describes Earthwork artists such as Andy Goldsworthy (b. 1956), Robert Smithson (1938–1973) and Walter De Maria (b. 1935) as contemporary shamans, who rather than create objects to be worshipped or for use in ritual ceremonies sanctify places, and create mystical monuments and sacred grounds.

To sanctify is to make pure and the process of my work which includes the collecting and removal of rubbish from the landscape, could be said I believe, to be a form of sanctifying. However, rather than be contained to one specific place, for instance a holy site or a mystical monument I believe the sacred to be ubiquitous. 

Shantz’s own work relates to a sense of place, whether through the construction of an object of steel rebar attaching her feet to the flat land of the prairies where she felt without roots, to the cultivation of mushrooms locating her on campus of graduate school and on to the activity of breaking twigs which served to connect her physically to her new home. Like Shantz I am drawn to this activity of collecting that I have been carrying out for sometime and although I too do not fully understand the need to do it, the commitment could be said to reveal, as it did to Shantz a form of receptivity, something Lipsey describes as an “incursion from within”. (Perlmutter and Koppman, 1999, p. 67)

Although it became clear to Shantz what she was to do with the growing pile of twigs consuming her studio floor, I am still, mostly at a loss as what to do with the rubbish, apart from make photographs in some form, throw it away and move on to the next series. I am so often in the dark. I guess I’m looking for answers as to where does all this rubbish come from, why do most people simply walk past in ignorance, why do practitioners of “art” continue to make romanticised, beautiful images of the landscape when the tide line, hedgerows and hills are brimming with the detritus of our consumer society? But like Jean Tinguely (1925-199) I can propose no answers or solutions in my work, simply express my anguish and hope for some transformative affect as expressed through the theory of Rasa.

As with Shantz’s growing of mushrooms Koppman asks us to consider questioning the concept of darkness. Rather than Plato’s idea of a darkness that could only be lit by the transcendent light of reason Koppman suggests experiencing darkness as a nurturing, embracing and fertile element.

            The darkness also relates to the experience of apophaticism, a Western theological tradition expressed through the medieval spiritual book, The Cloud of Unknowing, an experience Shantz describes as a negative way, a knowing by unknowing.  An apophatic approach means an absence of knowledge and a relinquishing of ego, a receptive waiting for the hidden god.  Rather than proceed through reason the negative way proceeds through contemplation, an admission of ignorance and a longing: “You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent towards God in the depths of your being…learn to be at home in this darkness”. (Perlmutter and Koppman, 1999, p. 65)

In Conclusion

In terms of a feminist redefinition of the sacred Koppman asks us to consider the following. What would happen if society rejected the idea that rather than being superior to nature we are all connected to the planet? Although the spiritual through traditional Western religious ideology is defined as transcendent what if it were defined in terms of immanence, rather than being separate what if physicality was seen as the embodiment of spirituality, what if the divine were believed to be immanent in nature? Koppman goes on to ask us to imagine the earth as a wise and intelligent physical and spiritual being, to experience passion as the guiding definition of the spiritual over reason, and every celebration of life and every expression of sorrow are also a celebration of spirituality. 

It seems we may be returning full circle towards a more polytheistic approach to art over the Biblical monotheism indoctrinated by the ancient Hebrews over the land of Canaan, as described in Exodus 34:11-16. For Perlmuter and Koppman, these polytheistic approaches and suggestions of association with pagan rituals go some way in undermining a predominantly Western male dominated political system and a patriarchal, monotheistic religious ideology.      

For me, I would like to walk down the beach and experience the wonder and tranquillity of nature whether the divine is immanent or not rather than experience the indexical nature of our consumer driven society. A Zen priest was asked: “If one can discern the Buddha-nature everywhere – in unraked stones as well as raked ones – why do you so meticulously fashion your rock garden?” In reply the priest said: “Yes, the Buddha-nature can be discovered everywhere, but we try to make it a little easier to see.” (Coleman, 1998, p.13)    

Bibliography

Barthes R, 2000 Camera Lucida Vintage: London

Coleman E, 1998 Creativity and Spirituality Bonds between Art and Religion USA: State University of New York Press

Perlmutter D and Koppman D, 1999 Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-cultural Perspectives Albany: State University of New York Press

Lailach M, 2007 Land Art Taschen: Ute Wachendorf Cologne