The Samana Project
A Samana is a person who abandons the conventional obligations of social life in order to find a way of life more 'in tune' (Sama) with the ways of nature. Is this focus on the questioning and understanding of what existence means, the pinnacle of our race as the intellectual being of the Earth? I use the forest as a vehicle to reach the extremities of living. Using what I need to know to survive in this rawest form; preparation, patience, knowledge and peace of mind, as you would in any walk of life. Putting yourself in the situation of complete self reliance lets you really find who you are and how far you can push yourself.
Inspired originally by my respect for nature and Herman Hesse's 'Siddhartha'. A book about the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, the son of a Brahman, who begins by setting off to become a Samana and finds himself taking very different walks of life. There were many books that had great influence on my desire to begin such a project in 2012; 'Wild Animus', by Richard Shapero, 'White Fang', by Jack London, and writings by Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The work of artists like Hamish Fulton, Andy Goldsworthy and especially Ben Rivers have also influenced my approach to this project.
This Samana project will act as an umbrella of which more in depth sub-projects will develop underneath. I have already produced one of these sub-projects and titled it, ‘Happiness in the Void’, 2013 and I am currently undergoing another which will is film based; documentary as well as non-narrative.
Inspired originally by my respect for nature and Herman Hesse's 'Siddhartha'. A book about the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, the son of a Brahman, who begins by setting off to become a Samana and finds himself taking very different walks of life. There were many books that had great influence on my desire to begin such a project in 2012; 'Wild Animus', by Richard Shapero, 'White Fang', by Jack London, and writings by Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The work of artists like Hamish Fulton, Andy Goldsworthy and especially Ben Rivers have also influenced my approach to this project.
This Samana project will act as an umbrella of which more in depth sub-projects will develop underneath. I have already produced one of these sub-projects and titled it, ‘Happiness in the Void’, 2013 and I am currently undergoing another which will is film based; documentary as well as non-narrative.
'Happiness in the Void', 2013
The first attempt of presenting this project in art form. The photos are of a mock up, not the final installation.