Family Photos Uncle brother/Sister auntie

2006

Buddah Enlightened International Project, Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. 2006.

Collaborative project Peter Burke, Australia, Carol Hummel, USA and Anna Macleod, Ireland.

In the space of a month, into the tiny town of Both Gaya, came the advent of an important Hindu Sun Navratra celebration along side the daily throng of 20,000 Buddhist pilgrims petitioning for world peace combined with a multitude of patients attending the annual week long charitable Eye Camp (free eye clinic). The artists approached the 2006 Bodh Gaya festival and International art project theme of ‘World Peace’* by interacting with the local community and pilgrims to Bodh Gaya irrespective of class, caste, creed or ethnicity. Responding to requests to be photographed with families and individuals the artists took their own record of these transactions and invited the participants to collect their photograph on a given day. For one day in Bodh Gaya, FAMILY PHOTOS created a non hierarchical social space for interaction and exchange.

* Bodh Gaya is the birth place of Buddhism and also the site of important Hindu festivals. In 2006 the theme for pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya was ‘World Peace’.