(March – April 2019)
The Easter Story, 2019. Coloured HD video 1920x1080, sound 2 channels (stereo) 48.000 kHz, duration 00:03:40.
Presented in St Andrew’s church, Cambridge, 2019; the work was presented to an academic community during a student conference in Chelmsford, 2019.
The video installation was commissioned for ecumenical worship. The work was created as a visual meditation in which I reflected on the main points of the story of redemption in a way that was sensitive to the different attitudes held by some evangelical denominations to visual art used for worship. The main principle was to keep true to the story but make it abstract enough to avoid direct depictions of the Crucifixion, which might alienate individual congregation members.
The use of light reflected on the water surface created a line connecting the individual events in the narrative. It can also represent Jesus's inner life, something strengthened by changing the colours. Light directly represents the transcendental or divine existence. Using common things layered over one another, I created a religious suggestion that avoids any religious pictures. This method is acceptable also for people outside the Churches, who might otherwise be discouraged from engaging with the artwork. My effort is to foster dialogue, create community and space for sharing, support dreaming, and other goals expressed by Stephen Duncombe as belonging to activism.
The video collage was made as a visual story combining still and moving pictures. There are two sets of visuals used. The first is a record of colourful reflections on a water surface that was disturbed by a controlled way to create wave patterns. The second set consists of photographs and videos, which were later edited and developed by adding effects simulating motion.
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