A set of cards was designed to descibe the system of symbols created for the 3 symbols painting. The cards link the 21 intermediate composite images used to create the photographic layer of the work with the abstract symbols created to represent birth, life and death.
3 symbols (cards face)
c-type prints mounted on 24 cards
each card is 10 x 10 cm
2008, edition 10
3 symbols cards (back)
We can capture a snapshot moment of impermanence in a photograph, and a painting is static, unchangeable… these statements are false.
In these cards the composite image is deconstructed and the symbol released. The cards can be touched, moved, re-arranged to create new personal meanings. A static image can be made fluid and the impermanence that is implied can become real. The cards are moved intuitively so that the states of life they describe become a symbol for the person touching them. These moments become memories and signs for future moments, with closed eyes, think of a question and re-arrange the cards. With open eyes the random clicks of an invisible universal clock sound because of unformed thoughts (less than a question) the cards help the question take form and the answer is like mist.
bandage (face)
bandage (back)
Forms appear in the mist. The uncovering of these forms happens naturally, the structure of the mechanism is a catalyst. In this way we realise that the real meaning and logic of the cards is not the one built in, but the one created by the person through the experience of using the cards.
| 21 images | reincarnation grieve bridge rwanda give blessing radius gesture burma restrict grave before rarefied grow blindness ruin guilt bandage replenish genocide burn |
| 3 symbols | birth growing forming life healing joining death decaying fragmenting |
| 3 states | birth healing death |
| 6 states | birth + healing birth + death healing + birth healing + death death + birth death + healing |
| 6 transformations | birth healing birth death healing birth healing death death birth death healing |
| 6 transformations (negative / reversed) | healing birth death birth birth healing healing death death birth death healing |
symbols, states and transformations
| image | 3 states | 6 states | 6 transforms | 6 transforms (negative) |
| reincarnation | birth | |||
| grieve | healing | |||
| bridge | death | |||
| rwanda | birth + healing | |||
| give | birth + death | |||
| blessing | healing + birth | |||
| radius | healing + death | |||
| gesture | death + birth | |||
| burma | death + healing | |||
| restrict | birth → healing | |||
| grave | birth → death | |||
| before | healing → birth | |||
| rarefied | healing → death | |||
| grow | death → birth | |||
| blindness | death → healing | |||
| ruin | birth → healing | |||
| guilt | birth → death | |||
| bandage | healing → birth | |||
| replenish | healing → death | |||
| genocide | death → birth | |||
| burn | death → healing |
card system
[negative transformations might use either a bar above the symbol or a mirror image of the symbol]
Dependent origination (Pratītyasamutpāda)
There is a constant flux of “Coming to be, and Ceasing to be” that is happening all the time. All phenomena are subject to this unending interaction. And since all phenomena are dependent on other phenomena, they are all transient and impermanent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratitya-samutpada
Absolute truth exists in the form of impermanence, suffering, non-self.