Religious publications are often viewed through the lens of their content, leaving their visual language largely unnoticed. This project set out to document the recurring iconography found in freely distributed Buddhist literature in Singapore, uncovering the common graphic conventions that collectively shape their visual identity and recontextualising them through an artist's publication.
The book was subsequently exhibited and made available for purchase at the Singapore Art Book Fair 2024, and is now stocked by selected independent bookstores in New York.
- Page spread: lotus
- Book cover
- Page spread: intro
- Page spread: lotus 2
- Page spread: ring of light
- Laminated blessing cards
Despite being produced by different organisations over many years, these publications repeatedly employ familiar visual devices — from blue skies and radiant gradients to lotuses, clouds and halos. Rather than treating these similarities as clichés, the project approached them as a vernacular design language worthy of archival and critical observation. By collecting and categorising these motifs, the publication invites readers to reconsider the aesthetics of everyday printed ephemera that often goes unnoticed.
Recurring visual motifs were systematically scanned, catalogued and composed into a publication that echoes the familiar look and feel of Buddhist literature. Referencing the proportions, materiality and visual rhythm of these freely distributed books, the publication blurs the line between documentation and artefact, allowing readers to experience these overlooked design conventions in a new context. The book was subsequently exhibited and made available for purchase at the Singapore Art Book Fair 2024, and is now stocked by selected independent bookstores in New York.