When I was thinking about
what to write for this launch I thought about the final paragraph I wrote in my
last blog post (“one day peace will come…On that day we will all have to ask
ourselves what we did for peace…did we capitalise or contribute…). I question that if we have borrowed this world from our children, then what
kind of a world are we going to give back to them and to future generations?
Don't we just seem to be making the same mistakes over and over again?
Are we going to leave a fragile and fragmented world destined to a history
repeating itself?
Or do we learn from our
past mistakes?
Recently I re-read Thomas
Cahill's The Gift of the Jews in which he demonstrates that one of the major
contributions to the civilised world from this historical tribe of semi nomads
is developing the belief in a future that could be different from the futile
cyclic repetition of predestination (the general Mesopotamian and Egyptian
beliefs at the time). It was a monumental shift in thought, believing that we
can take an active part in shaping our present and also what is yet to come.
And I found that very encouraging.
But in our modern world it
also seems that frustration, marginalisation and disempowerment can push many
to the point of believing they are justified in taking the law into their own
hands. And this is only made worse when we label atrocities such as the massacre
in a South Carolina church as perpetrated by a "lone wolf". It allows
us liberal types to rest easy, to shun our collective responsibility especially
when the lone wolf is a white guy. If he is anything other than white then he
can be conveniently be labelled “thug” or “terrorist” and as such we can act
(militarily?) to defend ourselves. But this white guy is a loner so we mourn
with the bereaved but also shake our heads and get on with life. But take note.
He may not be part of any particular group but in fact he shares a widespread
and dangerous ideology with many larger and more powerful organisations,
influential individuals and Governments.
Are we finally waking up
to the realisation that we have to become an "inclusive" society in
order to survive? I keep coming back to those two words again. Compassion and
coexistence (blog post of 14 May 2013 below).
"We actually need to recognise that Britain in particular (has) a kind of moral responsibility when we have left
certain states [or individuals?] behind in a very unstable situation. I want my
country to be governed by those who are prepared to look at the faces of the
desperate, be it the desperation of the asylum seeker or of the food bank
client, and to look at them with compassion." David Walker, Bishop of
Manchester, UK.
So..do we learn from our
mistakes? Absolutely, because it seems we can now repeat them almost perfectly.
About the new works...
"To see the truth as others do" has as its central image what is known as a Christian Kabbalah. But as Kabbalah has
its roots in Jewish mysticism it
struck me that this may illustrate the propensity of one religion superseding
another, where it deems the other religion redundant, dated or perhaps heretical. Nothing new there. It
also hit home that the cultural destruction and devastation that ISIL are
inflicting on our heritage throughout the Middle East is also nothing new...wherever
we look in the world. We've been there, we've done that and seems we keep
doing it again, and again. This artwork is a call to open-mindedness.
"Illuminatus – obscuratus" translates as "having been illuminated - having been covered" again
playing around with how we “interpret” the truth as we see it. The triangle shape
enclosing the Hebrew, Arabic and Greek logos/letters also hints at the idea of
exclusiveness and initiation in relation to knowledge or relationship (the
opposite of which is inclusiveness; something that as both a printmaker in open
access studios and regular at our community church I strive to practice).
“In the Name of Revelation” is a mixed media work on gesso panel, the content and
format of which was governed by looking back at some of my very old Italian inspired work from the mid 1980’s. It also contains quotes from the
writings of Julian of Norwich.
“Truth sees God and wisdom
contemplates God, and from these two comes a third, a holy and wonderful
delight in God who is love”.
The gate image on the left
intrigues me. Is a gate there to keep us out, to keep us in, or is it something
we can (choose to) pass through to another (physical, emotional, spiritual)
place?
The printed Gothic text is
from an illuminated Gutenberg Bible. This is actually one of the rare occasions
that I don't actually know what the text I am using says! That for me seems a
precarious position to be in but in this case I felt that the text would be
virtually illegible and also dominated by the presence of the quotations.
Therefore its presence is purely visual in this work.
The recurring saint image
is based on a Simone Martini icon in the Siena Pinocoteca Nazionale that I was
particularly drawn to.
In both ancient and modern
times the Hebrew tradition forbids the writing or vocalizing of the name of G-d
(known as HaShem or simply “the Name”). The Gothic letter “G” is a
representation of this.
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