Department of Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion, Art & Religion, Consortial Faculty, Graduate Theological Union.
Dr. Dessi Vendova, Postdoctoral Fellow in East Asian Art and Religion, comes to the GTU from Columbia University, where she earned PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees in Religion (Buddhism), with a specialization in early Indian and premodern Chinese Buddhism and art. Before her doctoral studies at Columbia University, Dr. Vendova spent eleven years studying and living in China and Japan, earning an BA in Chinese Language and MA in Classical Chinese Literature from Peking University, focusing on pre-Tang and Tang dynasty literature, religion and culture. She has also participated in wide-ranging field research and language study in India.
Her next project, “Trees in the Life of the Buddha,” will explore both textual and visual material related to religious practice connected with tree worship, the presence of trees, tree shrines, tree spirits, and other tree deities in both early Buddhist texts and art.
Why is it important to you that the arts be represented at the GTU?
My doctoral research bridges disciplinary boundaries by bringing together evidence from the fields of Buddhist studies, literature, art and archaeology. It is my deep belief that Buddhist studies and Buddhist art should not be approached as separate fields of study. Deep engagement with primary sources (both textual and visual) is also the mainstay of all the courses I teach. I believe that to better understand any of the Buddhist traditions we must not only engage with its texts, but importantly also must study its religious practices and its visual and material culture and understand how all of those connect as a whole. The GTU is noted for its being an interreligious as well as an interdisciplinary institution, and I’m very glad that students are offered the opportunity to learn about the role of art in religion and also, importantly of religion in art.
What’s your relationship with the arts? Do you practice an art form of your own? How does this influence your teaching?
My initial interest towards East Asia began when I was still a high school student and my first introduction to East Asian culture and religion was through China’s and Japan’s poetry, calligraphy and music. It was this early interest that inspired in me the strong wish to live and study in China, where as part of my academic training in Chinese language and literature I also learned and practiced a bit of Chinese calligraphy. During the three years I lived in Kyoto, Japan, I also learned Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana), which is something I very much enjoy.
My interest in Buddhist art and especially toward Buddhist cave temples began during my undergraduate studies at Peking University when I used every possible holiday and vacation to visit as many Buddhist Grottoes and famous monasteries across Mainland China as possible. This early deep personal interest towards Buddhist rock cut temples and their early Buddhist art later became one of the main subjects of my doctoral studies and research.
One my long standing hobbies has been film photography. A selection from the numerous photographs I took during several trips to different Tibetan regions was exhibited in two photographical exhibitions of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in 2007 and 2009 in my native hometown Sofia, Bulgaria. A third exhibition, of photographs of Kyoto Buddhist temples and gardens, is in planning.
Having lived and studied in East Asia (China and Japan) for eleven years and having travelled for field research in India as well, it is my deep understanding that religion and visual and material culture are in fact inseparable and must not only be studied together, but also taught together.
I believe that direct contact with images not only allows the students to further actively engage the traditions that they are studying, but it is essential. When it comes to Buddhist art, knowledge of textual primary sources is fundamental when interpreting, understanding and identifying the visual material. Thus I believe that studying Buddhist art is an interdisciplinary endeavor.
CARe PACKAGE 
welcome to the GTU, Dessi! I look forward to working with you.