Lyn Bishop : Sharing Secrets

In my husband’s hometown of Kyoto, Japan, there are many places to enjoy contemporary art around the ancient capital. However, tucked quietly on a side street on the east side of Tetsugaku-no-Michi (Philosophers’ Path) sits the lovely Honen-in, it’s temple halls set back into the the woods surrounded by it’s carefully raked gardens and moss covered thatched San-mon gate.

Honen-in is an unlikely place to view art, and as such, presents the viewer with a surprising contemplative space to see a wide range of exhibits. Two of it’s halls offer rotating exhibitions, usually a week in length, that present art that ranges from the traditional to the contemporary. Many artists have exhibited their work in this space, including my colleagues Janet Echelman and Markuz Wernli.

The chief priest, Shinsho Kajita, is active in the community and believes that temples should be open to the community and society. As such, Honen-in offers free admission to it’s visitors, in contrast to most of Kyoto’s other temples that charge a fee for entrance. Kajita-san is deeply concerned with the community and the environment, and in addition to his duties as chief priest, he devotes much of his time to NPO causes.

While I was exhibiting my series Mundane Spaces : Far Away Places, several visitors from the neighborhood would visit me everyday. Over the week, I learned that many consider Honen-in to be an energy spot, and they specifically come to this temple to meditate on a regular basis. As I spent the week in the folds of the mountain where Honen-in sits, I, too, felt the calming and peaceful presence of this ancient place.

Every morning I would unlock the hall from the side door and boil water in the small kitchen for the water thermos for tea. Waiting to greet me in the small room, next to the two burner stove, was a large dead and dried-out dragonfly, my good-luck totem of vision and illusion. I began to looked forward to visiting with this spirit totem each day as an talisman of good fortune. Once the thermos was filled and teapot and cups arranged on a tray, I would remove the heavy wooden beam that locked the main temple doors and store it beneath the wooden bench. Then I would slowly push the two heavy doors open, savoring the creaking sound, an audible expression of their age, to open the hall onto a beautiful autumn morning and the visitors who were already waiting to enter. Each day would speed by as streams of people surged in and out of the hall, until it was time for me to close the heavy doors again and slide the wooden beam back through it’s primitive lock.

What surprised me most about showing in this unique venue was the thoughtful questions and deep observation the viewers shared. On average, they lingered longer with the work, and were interested in the stories of travel and the process of creation. Even more surprising was the positive reaction to the hanging scrolls that I had created to frame the work, the viewers responding positively to this modern interpretation of a traditional Japanese art form. The outpouring of support from my Japanese community was yet another unexpected pleasure, as they came from near and far, from Hiroshima, from Tokyo, from Nagano, from Shiga, to see the exhibit. The entire experience was beyond my expectations, and has allowed me to experience and reflect on a different cultural reaction to my work.

Next time you find yourself in Kyoto, enjoying the cherry blossoms of spring or the turning of the maple trees in fall, be sure to seek out this jewel of a temple in the northeast corner of town and see what’s on exhibit. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Share your secrets by leaving a comment below.

Tags: Alternative Exhibit Space, Art, Kyoto, Mundane Spaces

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Art, Culture, Exhibitions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.