Poster~ Present a detail critical analysis of a cultural text
I have decided to write about Visionary art , Specifically 'Ayahuasca Art'. I have been interested in visionary art for a while now and after watching to a discussion held by 3 amazonian artists last year, I began to be more involved with contemporary visionary artists.
My mum works as a self employed artist and has always had a great passion for Sacred geometry and recently has been creating large mandalas and psychedelic backdrops, so I have had alot of inspiration from her aswell and that spurred my research further.
Ayahuasca is an entheogenic medicine created by tribal shamans in the amazon jungle. Its psychoactive effects come from a plant containing DMT this is then mixed with a root which acts as an inhibitor in the body, allowing the DMT to work as an enthogen.
Ayahusca art is an ancient expression , a way of telling stories of the visions that one see's when one is journey in an ayahuasca ceremony. Pablo Amaringo is said to be the father of Ayahuasca Visionary artists, and his work has inspired many people from all over the world and also brought tribal ayahuasca ceremonies into a context that is accessible to anyone through his visual art.
I read a brilliant piece of writing that got me thinking about spirituality. Here is an extract that I found to be most interesting and resonated with.
(written by Carlos Tanner , from the Ayahuasca foundation.)
"People today have become confused, realizing that we are being manipulated in every aspect of our lives, seeing our perspectives of reality constantly being twisted and spun to benefit someone else, and wondering what the actual truth is. Interest in ancient cultures is high, as many have begun to look to our ancestors for a chance to see what life was really like, and how we might get back to that. There is a natural desire within a growing subculture to return to our roots, for through our observation of current cultural trends it seems obvious that western society is headed towards its own demise. Something must be done to change the direction of society, to give people the power to determine for themselves what path they will take to realize their own destinies. Ayahuasca provides a way to turn the corner and take control of our lives again, to decide for ourselves who we are and what we are going to do with ourselves. Curanderos demonstrate that we are not enslaved by our realities when we know that spirit is at the root of it all.
Because a steadily increasing percentage of the public feel that Western Culture is lacking something important that prevents them from being fulfilled, they are looking for alternatives. Most people in the United States are frustrated with the Pharmaceutical companies’ firm grip on the Medical Industry and the concept that if illnesses are maintained at a comfortable level rather than cured completely, the companies selling the medicine will see a much larger profit. In a capitalist paradigm, it only makes sense that our medical industry seeks to have more patients, for a patient is a customer, and a customer represents potential profit. Why heal a patient if it means losing a customer? It is this mentality that has a growing subculture of truth seekers heading to the Amazon Rainforest in hopes of finding a healing system not yet tainted by the capitalist mentality.
What is lacking in western culture is the spirit. In a systematic genocide of over 25 million people, western culture persecuted, drowned, imprisoned, executed, and burned at the stake nearly every spiritual healer there was, leaving us ignorant of spiritual knowledge. Spirits became ghosts, and natural healers became witches to be feared. After several generations of this suppression of spiritual wisdom, the effects are obvious. We have little clue of our true identities, of who we are and of why we are here. We feel spirit yet we do not understand it. We think we are civilized yet we are spiritually primitive. The exact opposite was true of the indigenous peoples of the world, and for some of them it is still true today. The science of spirit has not been completely lost, and the Ayahuasca Foundation seeks to ensure that it never be lost, rather that it grow healthy and whole again, in the hearts and minds of humankind."
http://www.ayahuascaassociation.org/
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