A pilgrimage, mapped in paint.
This richly detailed Jain pilgrimage painting brings an entire sacred landscape into a single view.
Temple complexes, shrines, pathways, water bodies and groups of pilgrims are carefully arranged across the composition, allowing the viewer to experience the journey through the holy site visually. Rather than showing the landscape exactly as it appears, the work gives importance to the places that matter spiritually creating a map of devotion rather than geography.
At the heart of the tradition is the idea of darshan and pilgrimage: moving from shrine to shrine, pausing, worshipping and gradually approaching the sacred centre.
Works like this allowed devotees to contemplate a tirtha even when they were far from it turning the painting itself into a way of remembering and engaging with the pilgrimage.
The extraordinary number of architectural and narrative details makes the work something to return to repeatedly: every section contains another temple, another route and another moment of worship.
Hand-painted on cotton.
Limited work, made on order.