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AIR: Lee Mingwei

Lee Mingwei
Taiwan / United States b.1964
Bodhi Tree Project 2006
Living installation: Bodhi tree, marble seats (designed by Lee Mingwei; carved by Paul Stumkat, Queensland)
Commissioned by the Queensland Government for the Millennium Arts Project, Queensland Cultural Centre, Bodhi Tree Lawn, QAGOMA


Since 2008, a Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) has become a natural part of the urban landscape outside the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). Today, in conversation with the architecture, grounds and public art of the surrounding precinct, the towering tree creates a quiet canopy for gathering and contemplation, its lofty branches punctuating views to the sky and its thousands of heart-shaped leaves casting dappled light below. The Bodhi tree’s harmony with the surrounding environment, however, conceals its historical and spiritual significance as it symbolises ancient beliefs and a series of journeys through time and across lands and seas.
 

A view of the Bodhi tree growing outside the Gallery of Modern Art, with three Buddhist monks, dressed in orange, performing a blessing.
A view of the green leaves of a Bodhi tree as photographed from below.
A view of the Bodhi tree growing outside the Gallery of Modern Art, with Buddhist monks, dressed in orange, performing a blessing.

A blessing of the Bodhi tree that grows outside GOMA as part of the Bodhi Tree Project 2006 for ‘Air’, April 2023 / Photographs: C Callistemon, QAGOMA

 

The Bodhi tree’s story starts around 2500 years ago in a town now known as Bodh Gaya in northern India, where the young prince Siddhartha Gautama achieved enlightenment under a related fig tree. He became known as ‘Buddha’, ‘the awakened one’, and the sacred tree took the name ‘Bodhi’, meaning ‘awakening’. Following the death of Buddha, a sapling from the holy tree was taken to Sri Lanka and planted in the city of Anuradhapura in 249 BCE. It was named Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi and is one of the most sacred trees in the world. It is also considered the oldest living tree with a recorded date of planting.
 

A close up of green tree leaves with light behind them.

The leaves of the Bodhi tree that grows outside GOMA, April 2023 / Photograph: C Callistemon, QAGOMA


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