Living Buddhism
in Retrospect and Prospect
— A Photographic Exhibition —
An exhibition held at the University of Edinburgh from the
12th September to early 2012, with related events, all part of the
Knowledge Exchange programme.
Photos of the displays in the library foyer (12th Sept to 6th Oct) are here
The exhibition has now been moved to New College on The Mound;
the first photographs to be shown are Graham Harrison’s from India and South-East Asia.
The displays will be rotated, to show his images from East Asia later in November,
followed by Ian Astley’s portfolio from Japan and Korea in the New Year.
For a map showing the location of New College,
click here.
Photograph © Graham Harrison
Forthcoming Events
- Please keep an eye open for an evening in Edinburgh with the makers of
KanZeOn,
which has now been re-scheduled for the 30th January 2012
(original date: 15th September 2011). Details to follow shortly.
- The exhibition is now showing at
New College on the Mound,
where it will be shown in instalments until early 2012.
Members of the public can gain access during normal working hours by presenting themselves at the door
on the right hand side of the quadrangle.
The Background
Living Buddhism was an illustrated book and accompanying exhibition
on the Buddhist religion. The British Museum published the book and hosted the exhibition in 1989.
The photographs, the work of the renowned photographer Graham Harrison,
grew partly out of a major exhibition of the Museum’s Buddhist artefacts in 1985,
Buddhism: Art and Faith, curated by Wladimir Zwalf.
Graham Harrison undertook two long journeys around Asia in 1984–5 and 1987,
in addition to an earlier journey around Korea in 1983, to produce his photographic record
of this major world religion. Andrew Powell, who accompanied Graham Harrison on the last of
those journeys, provided the book’s evocative descriptions of Buddhism in the modern world.
The collection has now been transferred to Edinburgh and the current exhibition and
related events are a celebration of the revival of this important resource and the starting point
of a long-term project which seeks to maintain and develop the impetus behind the original venture.
This exhibition is not simply a display
of the original photographs but also augments and complements them with recent work by
Ian Astley,
whose research has taken him to Japan, China and Korea since the 1980s.
Past Events
-
For Doors Open Day, Ian Astley
was on hand on Saturday 24th September to show
visitors around, including the expanded displays on the first floor.
- On the 15th September, there was a public talk by Ian Reader
(University of Manchester), an internationally renowned scholar of Japan,
who spoke on the economic and pastoral crisis currently being experienced
in Japanese Buddhism, a topic all too easily ignored against the backdrop of the
continuing splendour of its major institutions.
- The same evening we also showed the film KanZeOn (2011)
for the first time in Scotland, the work of Neil Cantwell and Tim Grabham,
independent filmmakers based in London. The film has been described as,
“A mysterious and compelling meditation on sound, song, story, ritual, performance,
nature, tradition and Japanese Buddhism.”
We included it in the project not only for its intrinsic qualities but also for the part it can play
in our questioning just how vital Buddhism is in the modern world, with all the contrasting and
confusing phenomena being presented to us. We hope to have the film-makers in Edinburgh later
this year to speak about the making of the film.
Living Buddhism will not stop here: there are plans to digitize a fully representative
sample of Graham Harrison’s work (he took some 10,000 photographs during his travels through Asia)
and expand the database in an open-ended project which aims to show change in the Buddhist world.
Further information
- You can read more about the background to the original project on Graham Harrison's blog.
- And you can download an information sheet here.
Watch this space for further events!
- If you or your group would like a conducted tour of the displays,
please e-mail Ian Astley.
These events have been made possible through the co-operation of the Asia Department at the British Museum; with assistance towards transport costs from the Japan Society of Scotland; and with a generous grant from the Knowledge Exchange programme of the University of Edinburgh. Thanks are due to all these people.
Some reading (and seeing, hearing . . .)
For more information:
[Posted by Ian Astley, 30th July 2011; last updated 3rd January 2012]