Identifying and analysing your argument.

I find the insights in our course workbook from Stella Cottell’s book “Critical Skills” particularly beneficial. I copied and pasted them below to help myself navigate through the work. The questions below are advised for us to ask ourselves if we are imagining a reader of our research.

• “What message am I meant to be taking from this (text/programme/image/etc.)?“
• “What does the writer/author/maker want me to believe?“
• “What reasons have they offered to support their position?“

Even though my research format is a contextual study and not an essay with the innate characteristic of making an argument or a statement, the questions above are entirely relevant to any writing, including mine. So, I will answer them below.

1. I want the reader to take the following messages about the garden:

• The Garden is an imperative element of Indian iconography rooted in India’s widespread and prevalent ancient spiritual tradition – Vaishnavism and its profound literature foundation. For this reason, a garden is not just a general decorative background but a meaningful element heavily loaded with spiritual significance;
• The Garden is a dominant subject in Japanese ancient and contemporary visual art because of its vital role in traditional Japanese spiritual beliefs.
• In both visual art traditions, the garden is a portal to the transcendental realm and a way to connect with the Divine.

2. I want the reader to understand and believe:

• It would be ignorant and simplistic to view the dominant Garden theme in Asian visual art as something created just for pragmatic decoration purposes—” to make the room look nicer.”
• It takes a lot of spiritual devotion and an elevated level of consciousness from the artists to create the scenes of Indian Pichwai artworks and the garden themes of Japanese byōbu paintings.
• There is a difference in the visual representation of the Garden in traditional Indian and Japanese visual arts determined by the differences in spiritual beliefs;

3. What reasons and justifications support my position:

• Explanation of the origin, designation and evolution of Pichwai artwork from ancient times to the modern era;
• Explanation of traditional Japanese laws of painting;
• Explanation of details of Indian and Japanese traditional spiritual concepts;
• Analysis of differences and commonalities in Garden representation in traditional Indian and Japanese visual art;