Shrine

SHRINE

Shrine

Shrine

I have been partaking in a small but sacred intervention at the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Shrine at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary Alberta.

Cucumber Offering

Cucumber Offering

As it always happens with my interventions, it began rather spontaneously the summer of 2015.

Green Bean Offering

Green Bean Offering

I would leave a piece of carrot, an almond, a roasted chick pea. Whatever I was snacking on at the time, I shared with the idea of giving life back to this spectacular shrine.

Almond Offering

Almond Offering

Sadly, I misplaced the little sketchbook I documented each ‘incident’ in. When I returned to the shrine this past summer, I determined that I would better document it (thank you iphone) and share the practice.

Smartie Offering

Smartie Offering

Oh, I also wrote an essay in defence of my subversive offerings. If you are at all bent that way and would appreciate a more thorough description of this series of interventions, interested in exploring the agency of religious artifacts in relational aesthetics — or if you are simply interested in the history of the shrine— please click on the button below.

Dr. Leslie Kawamura (1935 - 2011), Buddhist Minister and the Numata Chair of Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary during his tenure there.

Dr. Leslie Kawamura (1935 - 2011), Buddhist Minister and the Numata Chair of Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary during his tenure there.