In my art practice, I apply Buddhism not as religion nor philosophy, but as a daily practice, like vipassana meditation. Vipassana meditation, focusing on the subtle sensations like breath under the nose, is a way to wake my awareness to the impermanent aspects of the inner and outer world. Enacting Buddhist practices, I relate them to contemporary and global cultures through many materials, processes, and approaches. I collect data of natural phenomena through photography and video as well as designing installations that draw on the performance of myself or others. In both approaches, I let my work change through interactions with surrounding time, space, and people. In Daily Rhythm, I documented Lake Michigan in a systematic way while being still with a camera in a fixed position. Being still or doing a repetitive gesture are examples of a methodology to lessen my subjective interpretation and expression, with the goal of removing the ego. Despite the fixed framing of the lake, the lake itself changed through the constant movement of water, sky, sun, people, and birds. As I saw them appear and disappear, I let my attachments, desires, thoughts, experiences, sensations, and emotions pass by.
As I contemplate the changing components in the scenery, I find a connection between my ephemeral self and others. Everything, including one’s mind and body, repeatedly contracts and expands, gathers and scatters, emerges and fades in response to constantly changing conditions. My artistic goal is to find a connection between self and others within this constant change. The definition of others includes matters and ideas that fall outside of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Interacting with others, both physically and metaphysically, is a way of accepting the ephemeral self and overcoming limitations of the individual. This acceptance prevents fixation on self and the divisions between the self and the other–a division that creates discrimination and struggles for property, power, and position. Therefore, removing the idea of self is a way of connecting all beings, creating a sense of oneness. Adopting our impermanence, I endeavor to liberate the self, opening up the possibility to become others.