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Elsa Salonen: Buni Buana (Hidden World)
For the installation various natural elements were collected in Java, Indonesia: rocks, plants, soil, volcanic ash as well as seashells and pieces of dead corals drifted ashore. From each element, a colour sample was distilled or ground onto a microscopic slide. In addition, images of nature spirits were painted on the slides with a transparent paint. These painted spirits, related to the animist worldview, become visible only through their shadows, in this way revealing a hidden layer of nature’s reality.
According to animism, every single plant, rock and tree is inhabited by an active agency, possibly even a spiritual consciousness, which has the right to live regardless of its instrumental utility to human needs.
According to animism, every single plant, rock and tree is inhabited by an active agency, possibly even a spiritual consciousness, which has the right to live regardless of its instrumental utility to human needs.
Additional work images
