In the Bridge Project 1, the object I chose was Buddha. During the research of Buddha and Buddhism, I have acknowledged a lot about them, which included the myths, history, development, belief, consumption…etc.
I chose to use photographs to present my three perspective: art, belief and consumption . As photos are more powerful and impressive in reflecting the reality.
Belief
This is the first photograph which I took this photo in the Mahayana Temple Buddhist Association. I searched lots of temples on the internet but most of them did not belong to Buddhism, a few Buddhist temples was empty since it was a weekday when I visited. Until I found this one, it was coincidental that 2 women were praying to Buddha. Then I took this picture.
Buddha has multiple meanings in Chinese culture which includes fortune, ethic and wisdom, because Buddhists believe that Buddha is the representative of ultimate wisdom and satisfaction. In Chinese culture, people believe in Buddhism because of the belief that Buddha can help people get rid of their troubles and bring fortune. Buddha is usually enshrined in the temple which is a shelter people constructed for Buddha. I want to through this picture to represent that Buddha was a belief in Chinese culture, and people who believe in Buddhism would worship Buddha, and the activities include incensing, kowtowing.
Consumption
I took the second photo in a Buddhist store in Chinatown. This photograph includes different kinds of merchandises of Buddha, and the prices are under the merchandises. I was trying to take this photo to represent the consumption of Buddha and Buddhism. The sculptures were made of different material which included plastic, stone, copper, gold and jade. Some of them are really cheap that everybody could consume, but some are expensive that only rich people could consume. It represents that the consumption of Buddha has spreaded around every social stratum.
Art
The third photograph that I took it in Metropolitan Museum of Art, I have been to there several times and I knew China section of the MET has a lot of sculptures of Buddha. I originally wanted to take photos of the sculptures, but the result was mess and people could not focus on the topic. Then I changed my perspective, I took a picture of that the big painting of Buddha and many visitors were looking at it. It connected the Buddha and people. I want to through this picture to represent that for the people not believe in Buddha, the sculptures and paintings of Buddha are not the association of belief or religion, but the artistic pieces.
