Mandalas Back

Mandalas

In Sanskrit, mandala means 'circle', representing the connection between humanity and the cosmos. Naima, Saima, Gursanj, Laxmi and other girls often reproduced intricate henna mandalas on each other's hands. In the school, we tried drawing original mandalas on notebooks with patterns that would cross between East and West. The girls in the group believed that all the mandalas already created would always be better, more balanced and harmonious than any they could start from scratch. Many students preferred to copy drawings, choreographies and ideas rather than develop original creations. This gave us a glimpse of the aesthetics and relationship to the creative practices of their home countries. In the first performance, the group gathered around the fountain in São Teotónio and performed several mudras, meditative gestures from the East. Seen from above, it was a mandala that unfolded and transformed into others. In this performance, there was also the 'Hospitality Square' where the text Instructions for Crossing the Foreign was performed. It took place at the intersection of three streets. On hearing about the BOWING project, visual artist Hannah Karen Black offered to draw a huge mandala with chalk in that space, creating a pattern between an Oriental flower and a Western compass.

Mandalas
Mandalas
Mandalas