Of the Earth

OF THE EARTH

Sacred narrative is the inner story, the tread that holds realities together binding one to another. The Biblical narrative is a one of these narratives where we find the threads and links to it is still today intertwined in our realities. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8 ESV. The Bible is the word of God, and it is not finite just as God is not finite. 

In my 2021 body of work, I am diving deeper into my religion as a Christian and creating works from Biblical verses, exploring themes of life, how our current lives are temporary and that we are finite, my own journey as a Christian. My body of work consists out of three-dimensional and two-dimensional artworks using sculpture, origami, artist books and charcoal as mediums in my work were I predominately use Bible pages, swallows, thread and gold as frequent images. 

Art is an expression of oneself and in my body of work I am expressing my self and my beliefs, but art is a universal language that allows the viewer to have their own perception of the work and to be able to connect with the pieces. All the artworks are focussed on my religion making it personal, but many of the works can symbolise something personal in any viewers eyes. My work is created to share with all people to connect and to converse about the purpose of life, how precious our time is and what we sow into it for the generations to come linking it to my field of study, Education. 

The swallows represent God’s love, protection and care and have become a symbol I identify myself with and incorporate in almost all my projects, When Jesus gave his sermon on the Mount he said “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6: 25-26 ESV

The gold represents the sacrifice Jesus made: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3: 16-17 ESV.

The thread symbolised that God created us, and we are connected to him and everyone else: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139: 13-14 ESV 

I hope that my project will reflect in other the realisation that we as humans are finite, that we are of the earth, and what we do and the choices we make matter; they have an influence on our lives and can have an impact on those of others.

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