Flowers for Tamil Gods
Material Religion, Ephemeral Artefacts, and Texts
2022–2025
RFC10
The project ‘Flowers for Tamil Gods’ focuses on ephemeral objects and written artefacts in order to expand the boundaries of what constitutes material and digital forms of religious aesthetics in the evolving field of Material Religion.
In this project, I study the history of temple gardens, uses of flowers, and regional and dynastic variations of garden culture drawing from inscriptional evidence in South India, archival research, classical literary texts, and temple histories. Contemporary examples are taken from recent fieldwork that I conducted at temples and flower markets in India, Europe, and North America. Finally, the project engages with counter-points to these foci in the form of inorganic, long-lasting floral objects such as plastic garlands, paper leaves, printed items, and related souvenirs. I employ a material religion framework to analyse the contributions of digital platforms and social media to aesthetic preferences and notions of time, as they relate to written, crafted, or otherwise handmade expressions of South Asian religions.
People
Project lead: Leah Comeau