Kimsooja * Buddhism

"Putting oneself in quietness and in meditative space leads to a certain awareness, perception, awakening. We don't have that many opportunities to do it in our daily life."
--Kimsooja

In her video, A Laundry Woman, Kimsooja stands before the Yamuna River in North India, contemplating her connection with the river. Immobile and anonymous - she faces away from the viewer - the artist is at one with the river and the sky it reflects. In this respect, Kimsooja's art recalls Buddhism's affirmation of the close relationship between humanity and nature. This relationship is also expressed in the Ackland's Burmese sculpture (displayed at the right), in which the Buddha, sitting beneath a Bodhi tree, touches the ground just before the moment of his enlightenment. Both A Laundry Woman and Buddha Calling the Earth to Witness affirm a Buddhist understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.
--Kimberly D. Judge, Ackland Graduate Intern


"Buddhism teaches that the nature of all things is impermanence... This film depicts the noninterference of the laundry woman with the flow of the world before her."
--Taitaku Pat Phelan, Chapel Hill Zen Center