DHYANA

About This Project

I start my morning with dhyana (meditation) to quiet the thoughts and gather clarity about my day. Circles are like thoughts that bubble up from the depth of the mind to the surface as stress releases in the physical body, allowing the mind to access a deeper level.

A lid from a ghee jar serves as the starting point for the dhyana series. While searching for the perfectly sized circle shape in the kitchen, I discovered that ghee in Vedic tradition symbolized purity. Ghee, or clarified butter, is a cooking oil source in India used for lamp oil and holistic healing. Cows not only provide these materials through their milk, but dung is also a heat source for cooking, thus the sacredness of the animal providing heat, light, nourishment and healing. Each individual lid piece is drawn and painted, reworked and then crushed and stepped on. I unfold the piece, then iron and steam it flat again before I adhere it into it’s final accumulative installation. Crushing the work is symbolic of the ego organizing, always undoing and redoing.
“In the principle of shooting an arrow with great force, we just pull the arrow back and release—it will go very far and hit the target with great force. So success is not gained through hard work: Success is gained by having the infinite organizing power of natural law in our favor”– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.