Abstract:
Mindful Repetitions: Ecologically Informed Buddhism and Contemporary Printmaking proposes that Buddhist teaching, informed by contemporary ecological concepts, may influence environmentally conscious printmaking. The argument of this thesis is that mindfulness and an understanding of the Buddhist notion of interconnectedness have the potential to contribute to and generate more ecological printmaking practices. This thesis also investigates the interwoven histories of woodcut and Buddhism, and their contemporary positions. Repetition, which sets in motion meditative qualities, has been extensively explored through my practice. As the integration of intellectual and physical action has been employed as a key constituent to my creative practice, the thesis examines embodied and somatic ways of knowing. The research has been conceptually underpinned by the philosophical ideas of Baruch Spinoza, Arne Naess, Gilles Deleuze and Maurice Merleau- Ponty. Their constructions of art, nature, deep ecology and phenomenology have been examined in relation to Zen Buddhism. Exploration of embodied ways of knowing instigated the processing of large wooden plates that, in turn, influenced the methodologies of my research. Furthermore, my thesis investigated assimilation of art with craft, through ideas derived from Zen aesthetics, Buddhist ideas of oneness and my own training in Japan; none of these separates art from craft or mind from body. Investigating expanded forms of printmaking, my research affirms that contemporary print continues to cross and push borders, merging with other fields of art, and bringing process-based and hybridised print practices to the forefront of discussion.
