Abstract

Over the last three years I’ve climbed and mapped sacred mountains in Asia, as well as man-made monuments that refer directly to the cosmological Mt. Meru and Mt. Sumeru of Buddhist and Hindu tradition. As an artist I fuse archaeology, legend, history and the site specific pilgrimage together — exploring on foot — while documenting with video, photography and GPS and react to the location through performance.

The mountain pilgrimage has become my lens into deciphering aspects of my new home. To share I create participatory art that attempts to poetically embody and translate my own experience to new audiences.

In this artist talk, I will introduce my mountain treks in China, Indonesia and Cambodia and also discuss the challenges and successes I encountered in translating these site specific projects and performances into installation pieces.

• Astrid C. Almkhlaafy  Assistant professor, Nanyang Technological University, School of Art Design & Media, visual communication, Singapore

Full text (PDF) p. 61-64