Temple of the Mind: Sala for the Mind

1995; herbal medicine, wood, brass; 320 x 270 x 270 cm. Collection of National Art Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

The towerlike temple with a broken upper level evokes a ruin with cosmological significance. The symbol of the house, pavilion, or place (sala) separates the hierarchy of heavenly and earthly realms. Boonma adopted gravity as a means of representing space and time through the sphere of the universe. Boonma invites us to experience healing of the body, mind, and soul in a sacred enclosure, or “place without sickness” (arokhayasala) where boxes are stuffed with medicinal and aromatic herbs.


	Temple of the Mind: Sala for the Mind 1995; herbal medicine, wood, brass; 320 x 270 x 270 cm. Collection of National Art Gallery of Australia, Canberra. The towerlike temple with a broken upper level evokes a ruin with cosmological significance. The symbol of the house, pavilion, or place (sala) separates the hierarchy of heavenly and earthly realms. Boonma adopted gravity as a means of representing space and time through the sphere of the universe. Boonma invites us to experience healing of the body, mind, and soul in a sacred enclosure, or “place without sickness” (arokhayasala) where boxes are stuffed with medicinal and aromatic herbs.