Shrines for Our Times

RELI 347 Religion and the Arts in South and Southeast Asia

While the term “shrine” indicates something enshrined and therefore, closed, religious shrines are sites for hope, community, and ongoing practices. Providing spiritual support and acknowledging the traditions of old, yet grounded in the realities of our daily lives, shrines remain important to worshippers everywhere, while also being locally contextualized. As we traverse uncertain waters in the contemporary world, facing gargantuan issues such as climate change, inequality and poverty, disease and ill-health among others, it is understandable to feel overwhelmed and stuck. These problems are societal and structural, and cannot be resolved by individuals; they also need concrete, concerted and long-term investments to be resolved, if that is even possible. What is it that shrines can do in the face of such unmanageable woes?

While religious and artistic traditions might not provide the structural solutions to the problems of today, they offer people with the opportunity to reach towards something greater than what an individual is capable of. This could be the safety and hope bestowed by a higher entity, or even just the power of community. Shrines, as religious and artistic places, address problems that are unmanageable for individuals and propose communal ways of engaging, negotiating, conversing, and organizing that index the possibility of futures.

In this course on Religion and the Arts in South and Southeast Asia (RELI 347), we emphasize the visualizations and practices of aesthetic traditions in this region over time and space, and center frameworks that are underrepresented in Western institutions. Our point with this exhibit is to address issues of global concern, but with a localized significance. The subjects focused on are mental health struggles in South Asia, the effects of climate change in Karachi in Pakistan, the sexism indoctrinated in Indian culture, physical and mental health issues in Vietnamese society, and poverty in Cambodia. Each shrine represents a different struggle but the exhibit as a whole showcases the intersectionality between these issues and the communities affected by them. Through the visualization of a shrine, we are presenting a chosen problem with a specific socio-economic context, and how the physical manifestation of a religious monument creates a space where art, religion, and community organize around it.

Prepared By:
Nicolas Côté, Jesse Yeung-Emond, Daniela Legarde Perez, Anne-Sophie Lisack, Nico Miguel Borja
Afrah, Hadia, Shereena, Gabrielle Canakis Aizenberg, Zara Saleem, Stephanie Carlucci, Kyle Lima-Manoukian, Samira Rahmouni, Malak Mosharef
Tiffaniya Anthonypillai, Niruyah Velauthapillai, Amina Chadda, Chloe Abi Haila
Sara Taylor, Albane Le Levier, Puneet Parmar, Corey Sa-Ventura
Vithujan Vinasithamby, Dieter Canonge, Maria Valderrama-Mesa, Manas Saini

Rising Tides: A Shrine Against Flooding in Karachi

Created by: Sara Taylor, Albane Le Levier, Puneet Parmar, Corey Sa-Ventura

Our shrine aims to provide support through the recurrent flooding problem in Karachi, which has been further worsened by climate change. It provides spiritual as well as structural protection, while fighting social and religious divisions in Pakistan.

Wishing You Health

Created by: Team Chúc Sức Khoẻ (Wish You Health)
Nicolas Côté, Jesse Yeung-Emond, Daniela Legarde Perez, Anne-Sophie Lisack, Nico Miguel Borja

Located on Ham Lon Mountain in Suc Son District, Vietnam, the Ham Lon Health Shrine strives to provide Vietnamese locals with a health-focused shrine in order to align them within a healthy and harmonious Vietnamese society. Ham Lon Health shrine is focused on the following deities and ancestors, such as the Vietnamese God Nuoc, Thien Thai, a Vietnamese Genie of Medicine, Buddha, Zhang Sanfeng, a Chinese Taoist Tai Chi master, and Nguyen Thai Thu, a Vietnamese traditional medicine expert. With offerings consisting mainly of healthy foods, incense burning, healthy food workshops, Tai Chi lessons and meditation exercises, the Ham Lon Health shrine seeks to bring good fortune, prosperity, longevity and healing at the spiritual and physical levels to all in an accessible manner.

Mental Health in the Islamic Perspective

Created by: Zara Saleem, Stephanie Carlucci, Kyle Lima-Manoukian, Samira Rahmouni, Malak Mosharef

Our shrine is aimed to be a place of tranquillity and mental healing for Muslims in India using the Islamic sacred gaze. It takes inspiration from the Islamic institutions known as Bimaristans which are healing centers spanning across the Muslim world in Asia.

Parvati’s Shrine

Created by: Tiffaniya Anthonypillai, Niruyah Velauthapillai, Amina Chadda, Chloe Abi Haila

Our shrine is situated in Kedarnath, Nepal which was affected by heavy flooding in 2013. Parvati’s shrine is dedicated to Shiva’s wife, Parvati, and is situated lower in Kedarnath to alleviate the side-effects of climate change on the region.

Agota Tichomrock

Created by: Dieter Canonge, Vithujan Vinasithamby, Maria Valderrama-Mesa and Manas Saini.

This Buddhist shrine is built in Phnom Penh, Cambodia which is a victim of stark financial inequalities. Agota Tichomrock meaning wealth sanctuary, is a sacred shrine found inside a massive stone built temple, dedicated to the embodiment of prosperity represented by a life sized brass figure of the Buddhist deity, the white Jambhala.

Shrine to Kali

Created by: Gabrielle Canakis Aizenberg, Shereena Henriques-McBean, Hadia Ghairat, Afrah Waraich

This shrine is dedicated to Kali, a Hindu goddess associated with fear and revulsion. It is made to be small and transportable and it is made to be used as a point of meeting for women. Sexism in India is a very large and systemic issue, but giving women a place to rally around a feared but respected goddess is supposed to help them band together.