The Shoreline, Down End, Croyde,
"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
The Sacred
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 Fulton England
The state of mind Fulton
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
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
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
Perlmutter D and Koppman D, 1999 Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-cultural
Perspectives Albany : State University of New York
Lailach M, 2007 Land Art
Taschen: Ute Wachendorf Cologne
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