Prompt: Time can be measured through the body in a number of ways: our kinetic movements, our physical aging, the performance of our everyday actions, and our changing outward personal style. Explore aspects of performance, ritual, identity, and live art, as expressed through the physical body and the impact it has on the space around it.
Sammed Shikharji is the most prominent Jain pilgrimages in India. It is located in an inland part of rural east India and is the highest mountain of the Parasnath Range. The Parshvanath temple is the highest temple that possesses the Parshvanath murti, who is the twenty-third Tirthankara and believed to have achieved Moksha there. Luckily, I got the opportunity to climb this eleven kilometer mountain range and visit the shrines to each of the twenty-four tirthankaras. The four-hour journey to the top was a life-changing experience because being in the abode of God probed me to think about how my religion has helped me through the different stages of my life and understand who I am as a person. This pilgrimage made me think about the lives of the less fortunate around me and value what God had given to me in my life. Though this once in a lifetime opportunity was physically draining, it was mentally and emotionally enriching.