Candace Jensen
Deep Green Query
Calligraphic illumination and decorated texts are found in numerous spiritual traditions, both in the western and eastern canons. The most celebrated examples include text from the Abrahamic religions, but also yantra and thangka paintings and scrolls from Buddhist, Tantric, Zen, and other traditions. Secular poetry and histories, books of hours, and even J.R.R. Tolkien’s works figure into the tradition of the craft. All seek to canonize text and poetic image, which profess to hold Truth, or Value, and thus be worthy of reverence and commitment to their preservation for posterity.
As a painter, calligrapher, and printmaker, the production of image and reproduction of language as text is inherently precious to me. Yet I challenge the dominant tradition of reservation of these crafts for potent traditional scriptures and poetry in our march toward Progress. In this chaotic and melancholic, desperate time that we find ourselves living in, the greatest comfort and hope for our future lies not in the sole dedication to canonical text and tradition’s trajectory (although it does not necessarily exclude it either). No, in my view the very thing we need to reflect upon with utter reverence is the golden glow of imagination and investigation of our selves in relationship to the breathing, buzzing, humming, growling, rustling world we are part of.
The Gaia Illuminations series puts handmade ink, herbs, and gold leaf on paper to revere the very act of grappling with the meaning of our place in this world. My source texts are treated not as holy books, but revered, reference manuscripts. Represented in the series are scholars, Tantrikas, scientists, medicine women, shamans, activists, poets and philosophers,
Calligraphic illumination and decorated texts are found in numerous spiritual traditions, both in the western and eastern canons. The most celebrated examples include text from the Abrahamic religions, but also yantra and thangka paintings and scrolls from Buddhist, Tantric, Zen and other traditions. Secular poetry and histories, books of hours and even J.R.R. Tolkien’s works figure into the tradition of the craft. All seek to canonize text and poetic image which profess to hold Truth, or Value, and thus be worthy of reverence and commitment to their preservation for posterity.
As a painter, calligrapher and printmaker, the production of image and reproduction of language as text is inherently precious to me. Yet I challenge the dominant tradition of reservation of these crafts for potent traditional scriptures and poetry in our march toward Progress. In this chaotic and melancholic, desperate time that we find ourselves living in, the greatest comfort and hope for our future lies not in the sole dedication to canonical text and tradition’s trajectory (although it does not necessarily exclude it either). No, in my view the very thing we need to reflect upon with utter reverence is the golden glow of imagination and investigation of our selves in relationship to the breathing, buzzing, humming, growling, rustling world we are part of.
The Gaia Illuminations series puts hand-made ink, herbs and gold leaf on paper to revere the very act of grappling with the meaning of our place in this world. My source texts are treated not as holy books, but revered, reference manuscripts. Represented in the series are scholars, Tantrikas, scientists, medicine women, shamans, activists, poets and philosophers, environmentalists, and cultural critics. The Truth of their words is found in the way their statements read more like questions, their convictions more like endless curiosity. In this way, I am illuminating not just the theme and Truth of interdependence through Gaia theory, sacred economics and non-duality, but actually a restoration of human query and profound imagination as the most sacred use of our imperfect, beautiful languages.