Om Namah Shivaya
“Science and religion are not opposites but just very different ways trying to decode the universe.”
Deepak Chopra
The sword meets its strength when it is swung. The movement of air, allows it to be a weapon. A sword hung for decoration, merely sits there.
Waiting.
Only with movement, does it get a chance to dutifully perform its dharma and karma, the duties and reason why it was molded. The sword doesn’t calculate its bearer’s intentions, right or wrong. It cuts through regardless.
It is easier to figure out one’s purpose when it is singular. It’s obvious. What about us, complex human beings?
Photography credit Catherhea Teah featuring Theyvapaalan & Vesha Naidu as body artist.
The Cosmic Dancer
The human body (form) becomes formless in dance.
A dancer that invites the cosmic to transcend its vastness into a momentary movement by this human body, captivates us as audience because we want to feel that:
Of being in control, yet losing all control. Simultaneously.
Is this the relationship between the masculine and the feminine: passive and active: space and time: mind and nature?
Androgony and Ardhanarishvara
A commonly seen union of Shiva and Shakti is represented by Ardhanarishvara, a combined figure of half-man, half-woman.
This androgynous union does not represent sexual preference, nor gender equality. It symbolically talks about the polarity of energies we hold within ourselves. Like the positive and negative ends of a battery; they are present in each individual.
Labels are created by society as a systemic form of control. This mystical wholeness rejects such narrow definitions. For the mind is him, and nature is her: they are indistinguishable.
All are within the space you create for yourself.
Have you seen electricity?
Are we sure of its existence? Surely, an ironic question as you’re reading this now because we both have access to it. It’s seen when a bulb gets lit, heard when the radio plays, and felt when we are (unfortunately) hit by a bolt of lightning.
But it is a complex subject matter, how it’s generated and regulated. So we use simplistic symbols to describe the flow of current and warnings to avoid getting electrocuted. Straight-forward, easy-to-understand signs.
Just like that, idols, and symbols were used thousands of years ago to simplify ideas about the cosmos. If you look at the Nadaraja statue, it resembles the Orion Star constelation
Meet the Team Behind Body Painting Art Photography
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Catherhea Teoh
She is a photographer, focusing her lens on the underrepresented faces in Malaysia. She is especially keen on defying beauty standards.
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Theyvapaalan S Jayaratnam
It prances around devised theatre , photography , videography , and splotches of colour to create . It is obsessed with shades of sunset.
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Prishiga Senthilan
A makeup artist who believes cosmetics is more than just a tool to enhance beauty. She believes it can convey strong unconventional ideas.
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Veshalini Naidu
They are a multidisciplinary artist who merges poetry, visual arts & theatre in their response to gender, sexuality and race in Malaysia.
Conceptualized and body painted
by Rupa.
Forget earthly clay. If I could sculpt God & Goddess statues using any material, I would choose the universe and all its content.
What if I could make idols out of the cosmos?
Inspired and dedicated to the life-long work of GM Subramaniam.
My late father researched Lord Shiva for twenty years, traveling to India more than 30 times in this duration.
My spiritual knowledge and understanding of symbolism in Hinduism is a gift from him.
Expect to see a continuation of this work as I dive into his unpublished research on the science of religious practices and symbolism.
Photography credit Netiswaran