The man who fashions a visionary ideal of [Christian] community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. ...He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. ...When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
This body of work uses destructed/reconstructed churches as metaphors to contemplate our present* challenges. The suffering induced by the pandemic, growing distrust of science and societal institutions, challenging questions of race and justice, tribal loyalties that sometimes obscure truth, a distressed and changing climate—all of these and more are signs of the systemic societal destruction that is also infiltrating the Christian church. As many Christian communities seem to be “going to smash” (Bonhoeffer), all people of faith are called to rediscover the foundation of truth and rethink their purpose: loving and serving others in an uneasy world.
*Written September 2021
Who can know the pain, the joy, the regret, the satisfaction?
Who can know the love of one life, one heart, one soul?
At two you’re at abstraction.
—Sara Groves
Here, the result of focusing on two or more individuals in a work is ambiguity comprised of observation, disappointment, reaction, and finally, unsettled satisfaction.
“Prisca” or “Priska” is the name of the woman the Apostle Paul mentions several times in his epistles in the biblical New Testament. Prisca was a highly respected Christian in the early days of the Church.
The works you see here depict women also belonging to the Church, women (and soon to be women) created by God to be held in respect—each one a Prisca.
In creating these works, I am acknowledging the women of our churches today—attempting to really hold, see, and understand a few—and elevating them to the position of regard to which Paul held Prisca in his writings.
The Christian Liturgy is an ideal example of an established, yet open structure, where people can be both vulnerable and empathetic with each other. To create this work, I have used the figure and an open process reminiscent of the liturgy’s structure. My own vulnerability is visible in how the piece is created – it is an active search for form and the representation of that form’s presence. The figures I have portrayed are isolated individuals, unaware or in sudden realization of a viewer’s gaze, and placed within an ambiguous space, evocative of a church or sanctuary. The works ultimately portray how I want the church to be – an open structure, full of empathy and vulnerability.
Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces…
— from “Now I Become Myself” by May Sarton
These works dissolve figure/ground relationships into compositions of gestural line and mark. Combining and translating information from photo references, this process is part depiction, improvisation, and alteration, so the work hovers between clarity and obscurity. Through this process, I am able to reflect on the intersections of personal identity, sanctuary, and relationship.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. – Nelson Mandela
The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own. – Susan Sontag
Using childhood photographs, these works were an opportunity to reflect on the romanticization of memory and its effect on our perception of reality.
Contact me if you are interested in a commission! Let me know what subject, size, and medium you have in mind, and we can discuss from there. Looking forward to working with you!
