"Ten Worlds"

The foundation of Swapna Das' research work focused on the Buddhist concept of “Ten Worlds” or ten life conditions — with the lowest being hell and the highest being Buddhahood. These states coexist in every living form at any given moment, where one of them will be manifest and other nine dormant. Das chose grayscale with limited use of sanguine to explore and understand such complex Buddhist concepts. The selection of medium also leaves spectators a wide room for interpretation. Her thesis work exhibits three aspects of "Ten Worlds: First," a series of ten different geometrical shape drawings, each symbolizing a unique state of life. Another series of seven circular shaped drawings show the simultaneous existence of these states. Finally, the interconnected nature of various states of life, also known as mutual possession, is shown with an array of drawings on square panels.