Sacred Waters | पवित्र पानी
The Ganga and Godavari rivers feature the largest gathering of humanity every three years when literally tens of millions of visitors bathe in them peacefully and reverentially, in accordance with Hindu tradition for Kumbh Mela. People join religious discussion, sing, and see some of the most revered holy men and holy women there.
Import it to Barcelona, Spain and this image feels out of context. The sadhu (or saddhu) is a religious monk – a sacred holy man in India. But how did he get here for the month of November?
Ivan Floro. “Sacred Waters”. Contorno Urbano Foundation/12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Clara Antón)
Artist Ivan Floro says he was considering the Hindu lights festival Diwali and the holy practice of bathing when he was creating his wall for the Centre Cívic Cotxeres Borrell. He calls it “Sacred Waters | पवित्र पानी” and his academic interpretation of his work is an evolution from his graffiti work as kid spraying abandoned factories. Now he studies the old European master painters and those traditions, bringing to fore this powerful piece that may be confusing to some who don’t know about the bathing holy practice thousands of miles from Barcelona.
“I thought about the clash of cultures there is between East and West,” he says, “how they understand life and death. We celebrate some of their rituals, but we could be shocked buy some others”.
Ivan Floro. “Sacred Waters”. Contorno Urbano Foundation/12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Clara Antón)
Ivan Floro. “Sacred Waters”. Contorno Urbano Foundation/12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Clara Antón)
This wall was produced with the Contorno Urbano Foundation – 12 + 1 Project.
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Remember that red-haired aerobics teacher that used to yell loudly over the thumping disco beat while her head-banded spandex army jumped and kicked in unison in front of a mirror at the community ce...
Hormonal murmurings, childhood dreaming, race cars, hot rods, porky pig. All are on display at Fuel, Fantasy, Freedom, the new show by Faile running roughshod all summer at Galerie Hilger NEXT in Vien...
Every Friday we invite you to stop by and take a look at new videos that have been submitted or recommended or that we tripped over walking by the railroad tracks. This year we showed you about 250 ...
A partnership of artists, curators, and real estate interests is giving a seriously entertaining show this week to Street Art and Graffiti Fans with this site-specific exhibition of ingenious interven...
Topical and timely, street artist INO has the scoop on global warming right now at the Bloop Festival in Ibiza, Spain. INO "Melting Earth". Bloop Festival 2017. Ibiza, Spain. July 2017. (photo © Mr...