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chemins de Compostelle
Un artiste Chinois, pèlerin de l'art, Ji Dahai, published by Editions Ouest-France
Award winning Chinese artist Ji Dahai has travelled
all over China on the Buddhist and Taoiste pilgrim routes such as
Putuo Shan, Jiuhua Shan and other sacred mountains. In spring 2004
in a house in Songzhuang, the largest artists’ village in
Beijing, he heard about the pilgrim routes in France to Santiago
de Compostela. The thought of travelling on a Christian route intrigued
him; he would meet people from cultures he didn’t know of
and as he says, ‘see them without prejudice.’
Packing four mandarin treasures in his bag –
paintbrushes of wolf hair, pens with black ink made from smoked
pine, ink from natural pigments and Xuan de Anhui’s paper,
made from straw, rice and sandalwood bark, he set off to travel
the ‘nine thousand miles on the giant silver bird’ to
France.
Ji Dahai has written the short text, and illustrated
the work throughout his journey from Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne
to Santiago de Compostela, one of the four pilgrim routes through
France. On the way he finds comparisons with Buddhist traditions.
A knot design carved on a stone in the church at Perse à
Espalion also appears in Chinese folklore where it is considered
good fortune, as well as in Buddhist ‘chapelets’.
‘Today’ he says, ‘we are in a
world where we spend more time in front of the computer than in
nature.’ Here he sets about rectifying this. The language,
like the text and drawings is uncomplicated, and easy to understand
as this pilgrim of art describes his journey of self-discovery.
See also: Pilgrim
Route to Santiago de Compostelo
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