By Ren Yao
Unique
‘Ecology of Devotion began from my interest in how different systems of belief and authority can survive within the same image. A Buddha figure carries associations of spiritual and cultural inheritance, while the Western suit introduces institutional modernity and the tiger suggests sovereign power and protection. When these elements are brought together, none of them remains completely stable; each begins to alter the meaning of the others.
The title refers to belief as an ecology rather than a single doctrine. For me, belief is shaped by memory, inherited images, political structures and repeated acts of looking. The painting does not try to reconcile these different systems, but allows their tensions to remain visible, asking how sacred, political and cultural forms continue to coexist in contemporary life.’ -Ren
By Ren Yao
Unique
‘Ecology of Devotion began from my interest in how different systems of belief and authority can survive within the same image. A Buddha figure carries associations of spiritual and cultural inheritance, while the Western suit introduces institutional modernity and the tiger suggests sovereign power and protection. When these elements are brought together, none of them remains completely stable; each begins to alter the meaning of the others.
The title refers to belief as an ecology rather than a single doctrine. For me, belief is shaped by memory, inherited images, political structures and repeated acts of looking. The painting does not try to reconcile these different systems, but allows their tensions to remain visible, asking how sacred, political and cultural forms continue to coexist in contemporary life.’ -Ren
