ÜBER DIESE EPISODE
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Derek Cook
The light projection portion of the piece is primarily intended to reflect the brevity of humanity as displayed in this Psalm. The man exists only as long as the projector burns and he walks only as long as the mechanism runs. If any of the many factors fall out of sync, his journey comes to a quick end.
The assembly of the projector mechanism tells a similar story. The entire assembly is built around a slide projector from the 1950s. In it’s time it was impressive technology, but only one generation later it’s simply a novelty. Similarly, the animation mechanism uses out of date technology to produce its effect. A geneva mechanism creates the intermittent motion necessary to produce a visible animation— the same mechanism was used in the oldest film projectors. This technology allowed people to view recorded video for the first time, but in the same way, not even 150 years later its usefulness for this purpose has long since gone. The showcase of obsolete technology is intended to display the brevity of human achievements.
I believe there’s an invitation in this Psalm to consider our lives and accomplishments with a sober mind, gaining the perspective necessary to realize that truly our only hope is in the Lord.
Materials: Light, Wood, Brass, Aluminum, Plastics
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Jenna Hurt
This piece is a prayer of lament.
God, may this art help us lament our sins. For the moments of trusting my
own desires more than my Creator’s. If my sin is not mourned, how else will I
taste true redemption from it? How else will I look upon the cross with
appropriate posture?
God, may this art help us express our grief, born not from personal sin, but
from the brokenness of the world. Sometimes hopeful words aren’t fitting.
God, may this art help us comfort the mourner. For the call to “weep with
those who weep.” I realize that I often allow a society that values convenience
and ease to overshadow this call.
The Process and the Meaning:
The process of this piece was deeply intertwined with the symbolism found in
Psalm 39. I painted shadows formed by plants in the sunlight (“Surely man
goes about as a shadow” vs. 6). Then I took weed-like plants and printed
them directly on the piece by rolling them in ink and pressing them down. I
created a linoleum carving of a thistle to represent bitterness and a decaying
moth for verse 11: “You consume like a moth what is dear to him.” I wanted
this bottom area of the piece to represent fragility and empathize with the
mourner by visually representing how lament feels to the spirit.
In the upper portion, I used plaster to represent flourishing in a more tangible
way than the fading nature of the lower portion. Verse 10 illustrates that when
we suffer, we can feel a sort of weight from God’s sovereignty (“Remove your
stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand”). We don’t know
what to do with God’s goodness in the midst of a troubling world that He
created and of which He is in control. It may feel like He is bearing down and
caging us in. His goodness is glaring to us, as shown by the effect of the gold
leaf. Yet, when we trust our “seeds” or tears into the presence of God, we find
these emotions are actually safe and welcomed by Him.
Website: jennajaneart.com Instagram: @jennajane.art
