Japanese Artist Tetta creates Yokohama bodhisattvas

THE JAPAN TIMES
By Eriko Arita

Eye-stopping: A symmetrical image of a volunteer bodhisattva created after artist Tetta's
making-up by flipping one side of a photo of her face to form the other side. © TETTA

JAPAN -- Eleven bodhisattvas stand in formation, their heads crowned and their almond-shaped eyes and faces dusted with gold. For the last two years, a Japanese artist named Tetta has been working to re-create the 1,000 more than 800-year-old bodhisattva statues in the Sanjusangendo Hall at Rengeoin Temple in Kyoto using people made up and dressed appropriately.... Bodhisattvas are those who are undergoing ascetic training to attain spiritual enlightenment," explained Tetta, of those frequent subjects of Buddhist art and sculpture. She said some people who have taken part in her workshops have described experiencing "instant enlightenment." [link]