Art Practice as Buddhist Practice: A Soteriology through Suffering

Abstract

The thesis examines the Buddhist concept of suffering, portrayed through visual art. The central questions are how can art be used to understand Buddhist suffering and, conversely, how can Buddhist suffering be used in the creation and perception of visual art. My thesis is based on an understanding of suffering (Dhukkha) described in the Early Buddhist Texts. Suffering is addressed through the Khandhas; collective processes that recognize human subjectivity as shifting. The Khandhas show that we are just processes of cause and effect. The Khandhas also bridge divides between reason and affect, mind and body, drawing on the work of Sue Hamilton and Peter Harvey. These theorists describe a Buddhism that has been termed modernist, where there is a renewed focus on suffering. The 4 artworks use the Buddha’s principle metaphor for suffering; of being on fire. The first two suites show seated bodies burning, portraying the universality of suffering. The third suite has nuns standing in a panorama of gold, representing immanent enlightenment. The fourth suite utilizes an image of my ‘self’ as the site of suffering. The dissertation compares Dhukkha to the works of Theodor Adorno, Susan Sontag, Mieke Bal and Mark Ledbetter as theorists of suffering. Adorno saw the representation of suffering as gratuitous, reinforcing existing systems of repression. For Bal, representations of suffering are only possible through inflection; changing forms so that exploitation is removed but art remains. Buddhism however sees suffering as intrinsic to all representation. Ledbetter then posits suffering as one part of a larger process of seeing that includes voyeurism. Works by six artists are paired and compared to understand different ways of articulating suffering. Colombian artist Doris Salcedo uses materials that speak of the lives of people missing in war torn Colombia. In contrast Oscar Munoz uses video to invoke the suffering and transience of both life and images. The work of Bill Viola is examined to show immediacy in the apprehension of pain and suffering. Viola’s works are juxtaposed with Zhang Huan who uses ash to invoke existential suffering. Finally, late works by Mark Rothko and Richard Serra are analyzed to understand the transformation and ending of suffering through abstracted forms. The artworks are lastly compared to a history of Buddhist self-sacrifice, including suicide and self-immolation. Both the artworks and these acts relate to the Buddhist understanding of ‘self’. Ultimately that ‘self’ is a delusion. The understanding of the delusion provides release from suffering, which is the aim of Buddhism.