wearable art

Kiranada Sterling Benjamin with kesa
Photo by You. Kobayashi

Kiranada Sterling Benjamin with the Millennium Kesa in Japan

The Kesa Project was on exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum through June 3, 2007,
and has recently been aquired by PEM for their permanent collection.

The spiritual qualities of cloth, transformation and a global view led me to work on a series of seven kesa (Buddhist monastic robes) prepared at the time of the millennium and involving communities around the world. As cloths of healing and unity, one for each continent, they were on site in Machu Picchu, Antarctica, Zimbabwe, Spain, Tasmania, Minnesota and Kyoto on January 1, 2000. They have been exhibited on four continents since inception and are in the permanent collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem MA.

To see a short video of each kesa (requires Windows Media Viewer) click on video under each image.
See Kesa Project overview video

kesa-africa
Africa — for video
Windows or Quicktime

kesa-Antarctica
Antarctica — for video
Windows or Quicktime

kesa-Asia
Asia — for video
Windows or Quicktime

kesa-Australia
Australia — for video
Windows or Quicktime

kesa-Europe
Europe — for video
Windows or Quicktime

kesa-North America
North America — for video
Windows or Quicktime

kesa-South America
South America — video
Windows or Quicktime

click here to read
Rozome Robes for Global Healing,
by Julie Kornblum.

Click here to read an article by Shumei Arts.


© All images are the property of Kiranada Sterling Benjamin and may not be reproduced in any form without her permission.