Bringing Buddha

63 cm x 100 cm

Oil, Gold Leaf on Canvas

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This piece is a composition of impressions of Sri Lanka. Although this is a picture of the painting in incomplete state- it still shows the main story line clearly.

In Sri Lanka, a lady took the risk of  hiding the tooth of Buddha in her hair ornament and smuggled the relic onto the island in order to alleviate the strife for power which surrounded the relic, back in India.

Women are sometimes even perceived as a necessary evil by some members of its’ orders due to the possibility of them distracting the good monks  from their difficult studies. They are therefore assigned the role of second rate citizens. Today, the ladies are on the backseat when it comes to the daily dealings with  matters which accompany a powerful religion.

Small details which make life  comfortable, safe and reliable are often overlooked in pursuit of a higher state of being. In the painting you will find lollipops and tiny sachets of laundry softener (a symbol of unstable income), stray animals ( animal cruelty disguised as piety) and begging elderly ladies (lack of emancipation and respect of the mother role).