Sandra Hill, PhD

Artist Statement

Approaching the Formless

Using an Arts Practice as Research methodology, my doctorate explored the kind of knowledge that can be gained through making. Focusing on traditional, non-figurative art from the Hindu traditions, I researched both its ritual usage and underlying philosophies. I also considered the ways in which the making of these sacred artworks might inform a contemporary arts practice.

I began by exploring the methods and materials of the traditional arts more generally, which led me to question the role that specific methods, materials and processes may play in the transmission of sacred knowledge through imagery. Engaging with the making of yantra (diagrams used in tantric ritual) provided an exemplary example of the way that a making process may embody ritual. Further exploration was centered on the triangle of primary manifestation and the black ovoid of the no-form Absolute. I considered how these images of the formless Absolute may inspire a sense of awe, which is described within the Indian traditions according to the concepts of rasa (aesthetic experience), and whether the distillation of form may allow the imagery to speak more easily across cultures and contribute to its wider appeal. My final artworks played with ideas of form and no-form, manifestation and dissolution.

The research re-contextualised perceived similarities between these traditional artworks and the minimal works of certain Western artists. I questioned whether a minimalist ‘lack of signifiers’ in these non- figurative images allows a more immediate relationship with the work itself – a relationship which enables experience without commentary and interpretation, and allows an immersive embodied relationship with the image itself.