Infinisterra - temporary exhibition at Museu do Oriente, Lisboa - The 19th of April 2015

Once I left the room where the Chu Tai Sin Cult exhibition was in display I decided to walk into the next rooms where Infinisterra was being exhibited.

 

 

The idea behind Infinisterra is said to have originated during a research visit  by the Portuguese architects António Duarte and Sérgio Andrade which covered six countries - Russia, Mongolia, China, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka.  Following the "acquired" learning experience they are said to have  got together with, Hugo Branco, Luis Alfflalo, Miguel Brito, Nuno Pinheiro and Raul Coelho over a period of a year and put up together  this exhibition in which photography, architecture, filming and even a corrogated iron installation were incorporated. A multi-directional approach to Art in its various forms, which I really liked.

 

 

The portraits  (taken in Kathmandu) were astounding ... there was, what I would personally call a clear intimate-like approach that impacted the viewer almost instantaneously, though I must admit the other two pictures (one taken in Guanxi, China and the other one to the Pashupatinath Temple) were equally impressive. 

 

 

 

I then walked into a detail oriented photo approach exhibit, having taken three photos, one of which related to a building I had personally seen as I travelled through Rajasthan and whose brighter redish colour had me puzzled, as if the Palace it depicted might have been "restored" since I was there (three years ago).

Harshat Mata, Abhaneri, Rajasthan (left). Basantapur, Hanuman Dhoka, Kathmandu (right)

City Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan

The following room  presented a series of facial features and quite an interesting and fairly extensive reference to the ethnic "border" perspective or its absence and the concepts we may often be misguided by.

 

Nepal (left) India (right and underneath)

The next part of the ensemble exhition comprised a number of pictures related to Buddhism and  Hindouism, of which I sellected four pictures I was impressed by, two related with the architectural aspect of it and the other two the worshipping rituals and the human side to it. 

The Chinese Maijishan Caves (left) and a detail of the Longmen Caves (right) in Gansu and Hénan respectively.

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in India (left) and Pashupatinath, Kathmandou in Nepal

One of the last rooms allowed us to come across several  photos of outstandingly beautiful and exquisite buildings architecturally speaking, as well as small size maquettes replicating them. My interest fell once more for the Indian architecture.

1499 Adelaj Vav, Gujarat, India

Kailashnath (600-1000), Ellora, India

And last, though definitely not the least in terms of creativity and visual impact, a corrugated iron type of construction with no outside windows but a screen embedded in its its filthy rubbish covered interior that opened up as a huge one. Ongoing images on the screen didn't differ too much from the frailties of  nowadays' life, whichever they might be and made us aware of some of the ongoing aspects of reality that one should thoroughly ponder on.

 

 

 

 

 

The Chu Tai Sin Cult - temporary exhibition at Museu do Oriente, Lisboa - The 19th of April 2015

As I walked into Museu do Oriente I knew I'd be staying for a few hours, once there were at least four temporary exhibitions I was interested in, one of them being on the Chu Tai Sin Cult and the role it used to play (and still does to a certain extent) in the life of the fishermen of Macau.

 

Having been to Macau in 1998 and tried over the years to further develop my knowledge regarding a country I had fallen for, I must say I had never heard of this Cult, this being the major reason as to why I didn't hesitate to start my cultural "venture" by this particular exhibition, not knowing what to expect.

 

 

To the right side of the main entrance a series of photographs depicting the life of the fishermen of Macau, who having been 52,463 by 1927 and according to records dating to 2011 reduced to 735. Traditions were nevertheless passed from generation  to generation throughout the last century, thus retaining part of the collective memory and specific identity of the fishing community of Macau.


 

 

The fact that many fishing families were forced to abandon their fishing boats and adapt  themselves to new living circumstances brought about by a crisis in the fishing sector didn't mean their beliefs died out with it. Those are kept alive year after year as the  actual and former fishermen families participate in the Da Jiu festivity carrying along with them venerating wooden statues.

 

 

Chu Tai Sin worshippers  who have him placed in altar-like frames at home bring them out in the Da Jiu festivity, so as to ensure his influencing power is maintained.

 

 

 

 

The exhibition comprised a number of wooden artefacts used in those culturally rich festivities. One was allowed to see the artistry and time involved in their fabrication process from the inital carving through the application of an ash and laque mixture and finally the gold covering and painting.

The unique way of venerating the ancestors is closely tied to a well defined representation pattern, in which the old are represented in a sitting position, while the young are standing, loose hair indicating single women and tied up hair the married ones, as well as the inclusion of certain clothing details and the size of the figures reinforcing the idea of the social rank and power those being represented while they were alive.

 

 

 

 

Mediation plays an important role in these festivities with the fishermen of Macau having a group of  laic Buddhists Gui Si carry out the  necessary ritual procedures for the ceremony, as well as the writing down of the required documentation - the Pong (a huge red sheet of paper on which important elements like the names of all the family members participating in the ceremony, their personal requests and every ritual contemplated for the ceremony are written down).

 

 

The statue of Ji Tin Duk Dei, representing Sakyamuni (Buda) as a child pointing up to the sky with his right hand and towards the earth with the left  hand is said to have the particularity of being able to serve as an intermediary transmitting the worshippers' requests to the Deities, whilst travelling across earth and sky, according to a local legend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pei Lou hat and ritual crown worn by the local Gui Si during the ceremonial rituals
 

The Gwoh Gwaan ceremony, very popular among the young and the old (because of being the ones who are more vulnerable), aims at requesting the divine intervention in overcoming life's obstacles. Amongst its various rituals one has worshippers walk several times under a red cloth in the shape of a curtained door.

The cult of Chu Tai Sin cannot be dissociated from Lung Chuen Temple and Maan Sau Ga, a Buddhist female monk, who not only earned fishing peoples' esteem but actively promoted the cult of this Deity.

I found the exhibition to be very interesting and as I walked out of the exhibiting room felt a lot more aware of the importance of maintaining certain traditions or at least have them pass from generation to generation even if it is only to acknowledge that they still exist, despite not having the importance they used to in the past.




 

 

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

I must confess I chose to buy this nine hundred and so page book solely based on its synopsis and some of the opinions written on the back page of the cover, once I had never heard of its author. Because of its size I decided to keep it at home and not carry it with me on the way to and from work, but soon found myself literally and literarily "hooked" onto it to the point of having refused an evening out to simply keep on reading it. 

 

Whether it is a novel or an autobiographical story, as it has been referred to by many, is irrelevant because one thing is undeniable - it is brilliantly written  (though I have seen quite a lot of negative stylistic comments lately) and it has an underlying moral purpose that is not "thrown" onto the reader but rather permeates as one gets to know some of the characters.

 

 

 

"Powerful and original ... a remarkable achievement." - Sunday Telegraph

 

 

"Vivid and compassionate ... impressive." - Guardian 

 

From a certain moment on I stopped copying down some of its extracts .... I felt I'd have a lot of copying to do having therefore opted to just write down those phrases or paragraphs that had some sort of connection to either experiences I had had or those I felt to be interesting to ponder on.

"I had learned the hard way that sometimes even with the purest of intentions, we make things worse when we do our best to make things better."

 

"There's a truth that's deeper than experience. It's beyond what we see, or even what we feel. It's an order of truth that separates the profound from the merely clever, and the reality from the perception."

"I don't know what frightens me more, the power that crushes us or our endless ability to endure it."

 

"What do you want (...)? (...) I want everything, she replied with a faint, wry smile".

"Interested in everything, committed to nothing."

"Men reveal what they think when they look away and what they feel when they hesitate. With women, (...) it's the other way around."

"At first, when we truly love someone, our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. What we should fear and dread, of course, is that we won't stop loving them, even after they're dead and gone."

"Personality and personal identity are in some ways like co-ordinates on the street map drawn by our intersecting relationships."

"Some feelings sink so deeply into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again."

"The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men. (...) it is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. There are good deeds, and bad deeds. Men are just men - it is what they do or, or refuse to do, that links them to good and evil."

"We can compel men not to be bad, but we cannot compel them to be good."

"There is no act of faith more beautiful than the generosity of the very poor."

 

I believe that Gregory David Robert's book will not leave those who read it indifferent, whether positive or negatively.