Excerpt from Sacred Pictures, Secular Frames (Spirituality in recent Malaysian Art)
By Niranjan Rajah
In Malaysian modernism there is the official narrative of Islamic spirituality and then there are a whole host of other traditions that subsist and coexist. Following is an account of a personal encounter with Jeganathan, a Hindu artist, who has discreetly but determinedly been practising Tantric methods of visualisation on the periphery of the mainstream. I met him after having been on a panel of judges that had selected stream. I met him after having been on a panel of judges that had selected his Seeking an Answer: The Indian Migration, 1996, for inclusion in the Malaysia / ASEAN Art Awards exhibition. We exchanged vanakams (greetings) and addresses. Some time later I received a package containing examples of his work. I had asked for this, but was surprised and disturbed by one of the works. It was an idealized portrait of myself in line and verse. I was embarrassed and considered writing back admonishing him for flattery and the cult of personality, I did not.
Much later, it dawned on me that it was not the artist but the model who had responded personally. Jeganathan has received training in the arts of meditation and Samudrigham from a master named Bootha Muni from the Himalayas. Samudrigham is a descriptive art and part of a symbolic system based on the study of bodily features. Jeganathan explained that:
Unlike in the West where physiognomy is defined as a character study from physical attributes, Tantra sees it as the link between man and the cosmic force. Every expression is brought through in the state of meditation and that which is formed in the moment of totalness, in pure slumber, can be nothing but creative impulse of the Maker.
Niranjan Rajah is an Assistant Professor at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University. He is the convenor of the annual New Forms Festival Conference, Vancouver. He is a Researcher in Residence at the TechLab, Surrey Art Gallery developing an exhibition on the junction of Sacred art and Digital technologies titled Sacred Spaces. Niranjan is a member of the Media Arts Advisory Committee for the Canada Council for the Arts, a member of the Board of Directors of Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Centre A), Vancouver as well as a member of the advisory board for the BANFF New Media Institute (BNMI). He is also a founding member of the Accented Technologies Collective, a Canadian Collective for culturally reflective computing. Niranjan has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Inter Society for Electronic Art (ISEA). Niranjan was Keynote Speaker at the ‘Collapsing Geographies Forum’ of the 2nd Multimedia Art Asia Pacific Festival Brisbane and he won an Asian Scholars Award at the 15th International Congress of Aesthetics, Tokyo.
By Niranjan Rajah
In Malaysian modernism there is the official narrative of Islamic spirituality and then there are a whole host of other traditions that subsist and coexist. Following is an account of a personal encounter with Jeganathan, a Hindu artist, who has discreetly but determinedly been practising Tantric methods of visualisation on the periphery of the mainstream. I met him after having been on a panel of judges that had selected stream. I met him after having been on a panel of judges that had selected his Seeking an Answer: The Indian Migration, 1996, for inclusion in the Malaysia / ASEAN Art Awards exhibition. We exchanged vanakams (greetings) and addresses. Some time later I received a package containing examples of his work. I had asked for this, but was surprised and disturbed by one of the works. It was an idealized portrait of myself in line and verse. I was embarrassed and considered writing back admonishing him for flattery and the cult of personality, I did not.
Much later, it dawned on me that it was not the artist but the model who had responded personally. Jeganathan has received training in the arts of meditation and Samudrigham from a master named Bootha Muni from the Himalayas. Samudrigham is a descriptive art and part of a symbolic system based on the study of bodily features. Jeganathan explained that:
Unlike in the West where physiognomy is defined as a character study from physical attributes, Tantra sees it as the link between man and the cosmic force. Every expression is brought through in the state of meditation and that which is formed in the moment of totalness, in pure slumber, can be nothing but creative impulse of the Maker.
Niranjan Rajah is an Assistant Professor at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University. He is the convenor of the annual New Forms Festival Conference, Vancouver. He is a Researcher in Residence at the TechLab, Surrey Art Gallery developing an exhibition on the junction of Sacred art and Digital technologies titled Sacred Spaces. Niranjan is a member of the Media Arts Advisory Committee for the Canada Council for the Arts, a member of the Board of Directors of Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Centre A), Vancouver as well as a member of the advisory board for the BANFF New Media Institute (BNMI). He is also a founding member of the Accented Technologies Collective, a Canadian Collective for culturally reflective computing. Niranjan has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Inter Society for Electronic Art (ISEA). Niranjan was Keynote Speaker at the ‘Collapsing Geographies Forum’ of the 2nd Multimedia Art Asia Pacific Festival Brisbane and he won an Asian Scholars Award at the 15th International Congress of Aesthetics, Tokyo.