Bhākti: A Practice of the Heart
Bhākti: Practice of the Heart
Fall/Winter 2022
Installation
The Bhākti Movement began in Tamil Nadu, India in 7th century AD. The movement was anti-caste, women-led, and centered around the idea that everyone could have a direct relationship with God—who could be found in nature or community—and that divinity existed within all of us. Bhākti yoga is a deeply political and heart-centered yoga practice that has an emphasis on singing, chanting, and gathering in community.
Bhākti: Practice of the Heart was a community decompression space and gallery hosted at Harvard Ed Portal. With the support of the Harvard Ed Portal team, I transformed the Crossings Gallery into a public decompression space and gallery installation, Bhākti: A Practice of the Heart (September 23, 2022– December 15, 2022). Community members were invited to decompress and nourish their creative spirit. The furniture in the gallery has all been sourced secondhand, donated, or loaned, and served as a reminder of the abundance that exists around us (special thanks to West Elm, Brookline Booksmith, Dharma Crafts for their donations). The furniture was then redistributed to local community members to furnish their own homes. The pieces in the gallery had all been created by an intuitive art process through the practice of listening to trees, ancestors, and following my own heart. The installation emphasized how there are ways to experience physical comfort that do not further contribute to capitalism, a system that continues to harm the earth and gains power when we see ourselves separate from the natural world.
This project was born to hold space for the ways we have all changed in the past few years amidst COVID-19, and our bodies are holding so much that words cannot name. We all deserve to have physical spaces where we find respite; a place of comfort that allows our nervous systems to rest and access our innermost dreams and desires. Often when we enter gallery or museum spaces, there is a rigidity attached to institutions rather than an integration of the body and heart—the most integral components to the art- making process and to living.
Every week I hosted Bhākti Gathering Hour was a weekly workshop held each Wednesday where visitors could connect with new people, journal, create art, practice tarot, as well as meet special guests.
This project was supported by donations from West Elm and Brookline Booksmith.
Photos by Mel Taing