A vision of Nirvana at the NGV

The work expresses Iwasaki’s spiritual connection to the Itsukushima Shine in Hiroshima prefecture where he was born and raised, and calls on visions of Nirvana — the idealistic realm or paradise within the Buddhist faith within which one would be liberated from desire, delusion and torment. Interpreted as a floating world outwith the confines of gravity, the concept of Nirvana led architects to creatively use the reflective properties of water to form the illusion of floating buildings: the building and its reflection fused to create an enormous three-dimensional object, appearing to be from a different world. The original Itsukushima shrine is one of Japan’s most revered and spiritual sites, having been established in the year 593 CE and expanded to its current configuration in 1168 CE. Its fame increased, and from the sixteenth century became widely known as one of Japan’s three most celebrated sites, featuring on many screen paintings and woodblock prints of the era. Featured within the exhibition is a pair of folding screens, Wakanoura and Itsukushima,  <a href="https://medium.com/@rosalindnoor/a-vision-of-nirvana-at-the-ngv-d9c546b90450?source=tag_recommended_feed---------53-84----------melbourne----------5daada9a_42f4_41a5_aff3_7fe68fea5f3f-------">Click Here</a>