For my first POV, I thought it fro

 

For this perspective, I thought of playing with image or text wrapped around objects. I was partially inspired by this design from the book Print/Out. After discussing with Prof Ina on my POVs, I was inspired to do one on the whole idea of religion being a sensitive topic to talk about and how disclaimers should be written in my posts. To express how extreme the sensitivity is (particularly in Singapore, I understand why there is a need to but I feel at the same time it does leave little room for much discussion in terms of art concerning religion), I decided to play with the imagery of the Buddha, one of the most common symbols of Buddhism. I found a wine bottle at ADM (thank you buffets) and thought I could make it resemble a Buddha with some aluminium foil and masking tape. I wanted to create the impression that I wrapped an actual Buddha statue in tape and that by photographing my creation, it would reflect this…sadly no…my 3D skills were not up to par and while most could tell it looked like a Buddha…they didn’t believe I wrapped it. Nevertheless, I decided to continue with the disclaimer text idea.

My original idea was to wrap the image of the Buddha around something or have multiple copies of the disclaimer text printed out and wrapped around the Buddha statue. However, I realised laying one piece like that made it look like the robe of the Buddha and added to its look so I kept it that way.

tried out different compositions for the text.

I also tried taking it against different backgrounds.

I also tried the effect of having text in the background. I like the clear distinction between the typed text and handwritten text. The handwritten text feels more personal and much expressive but I thought this had too much of a “protest” feel that I wanted to avoid for this series.

I also tried scanning the sculpture which produced quite a cool effect.

For this POV, I thought of either working with the idea of a lifebuoy or friends with benefits.

Above is the rough draft of the lifebuoy idea. However, I decided to go with the FWB idea in the end as after thinking about it the, the lifebuoy doesn’t really reflect the whole “you only use it when you need it” but more of a lifesaver.

With reference to the FWB movie poster, I decided to play with the imagery created by the Buddhist bracelet and finger. The Buddhist bracelet is also relevant as the very people I am referring to are those that tend to wear Buddhist related jewellery but do not practise what they preach.

To make the message as subtle as possible, I went with a more fun, advertisement like feel thus the Cocogoose font and the play on the term FWB to Buddha with Benefits.

For this perspective, it would be from mass culture, specifically companies that utilise Buddhism’s zen appeal to sell their products to the new age hipster crowd (google Dharma Burgers). I did not plan this but played around with the word Buddha and repeated the “haha”s. I added a “ha” at the end out of the bag to show a shift in tone…suddenly, the joke’s on them. I kept it clean and used helvetica (appeals to the you-know-who crowd who probably buys into the zen thing) to make the message seem slightly ambiguous but strangely cold despite the amount of “haha”s pointing at the more serious issue at hand.

For this perspective, I wanted to convey the idea of how a blind person would experience religion (specifically Buddhism). I thought it would be interesting to explore cause a blind person is unable to see any religious imagery unlike most people so they would see Buddhism in a different light. I believe they would rely more on the sounds and smell. I thought of the Buddhist mantra and how most people who go to the temple listen to the monks chant but do not actually know what it means, the chanting is simply calming to them. I tried to reflect this in design by randomly scribbling patterns in an orderly manner on brown paper. It somewhat looked like the mantra from afar.

 I proceeded to play with lighting and rubbing “ash” (cigarette  ash…I didn’t have time to go to the temple to collect ash) on to the the paper to see the effect.

I then proceeded to cut out and manipulate the size and shape of sound waves to create a “mantra” script.

I added the Chinese character for “listen” to create focus.

The set-up on how I photographed the final piece.

I have to admit this last one was clearly rushed but I wanted to add in one that would add to the overall concept. My main focus was to show how people have become overly focused on religious imagery so I wanted to have one perspective that would be the very anti-thesis of that. After thinking about it, I realised a truly enlightened Buddhist would be the one. Enlightenment would mean that the person is able to see the “truth” of things and would no longer need to rely on these images of Buddha (created by humans ahem) or any material thing to believe in their faith. Thus, I tore the image of the Buddha (okay its a printed image but wtvs) which may seem controversial unless you understand the perspective in which religious imagery concerning the Buddha is no longer needed.

I went with this composition instead since it looks very raw yet strong in a way. It also looks really ambiguous which should get people thinking???? (idk…)

I originally wanted to insert the words truth behind this tear mark but then again, it seems too cheesy.

OKAY THATS ALL FOR NOW

it was fun exploring the concept of Buddhism through this POV project but yea I wish I had executed it better…shall work hard for zine~~~