Forms of Protest

2014, Henie Onstad Art Center, Oslo

Mixed media

The project looks at the history of meditation and Tibetan Buddhism in Europe. The photographs and the paintings are produced in accordance to the tibetan monk Chôgyam Trungpa’s description of the artistic process. The installation at the entrance is made from portraits of monks who are demonstrating against the Dalai Lama. The project is an attempt at looking at meditation and abstraction as active processes to connect to something larger, in opposition to the general view of these practices being signs of withdrawal.

Photo: Marte Johnslien. All text and image © Marte Johnslien