Ten Realms of the Lotus
"Ten Realms of the Lotus" is a 20 minute computer-generated animation work-in-progress. The finished piece will be projected onto an interior dome surface. Ten Realms continues the long tradition of dome painting and ornamentation, from the Ajanta cave paintings in India to the 102’ diameter mosaic dome of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. This visually immersive animation, comprised of millions of bits of digital information and projected onto the dome "canvas," is a 21st century analogue of the Sophia’s 30 million gilded glass tesserae.

"Ten Realms of the Lotus" is based on a series of ten photographs. Ten Realms is an allegory that interprets the sweep of human emotions and their role in the self's experience, evoking the Eastern belief that emotions arise, from moment to moment, from among ten life conditions, ranging from the lower state of Hell to the higher state of Buddhahood. Each image alludes to both the Eastern and the Jungian mandala and suggests the essence of the emotional realm that it depicts. The intent is to create a "virtual reality" experience that is both physical and metaphysical, immersing the viewer in light, color, form, and sound while unfolding a visual narrative that explicates the Ten Realms.