Joshu's Dog (2021) is a re-imagining of the visual language of Zen Buddhism, referencing the tradition of Zen "koans" developed during the Tang dynasty in China (618–907). Koans are teaching exercises in Zen tradition meant to cause a practitioner to break through normal cognitive patterns and attain sudden realisation. They usually take the form of paradoxes, fragmentary statements, and apparently nonsensical questions.
The series is named after one of the better known Koans, in which the monk Joshu asks his student whether a dog has Buddha nature or not. The images mirror the riddle-like structure of the Koans, where the start of the story makes sense but then one inevitably comes to an abrupt dead end. Made during the Covid-19 pandemic, the series is an attempt to get out of one's head which leads in exactly the opposite direction; into a quagmire of images, fragments and unfinished thoughts.
Installation views of Joshu's Dog in "Berlin, God and the World" a group exhibition at the Guardini Gallery (April 2021).