Thursday, May 03, 2007

Everyday Images Of The Cross




That Hideous Man (Gavin, in Perth, Scotland) sent me an email suggesting I consider submitting a photograph to the Rood Awakenings gallery. Rood Awakenings is a fringe event at the forthcoming Perth Festival of the Arts, and the gallery will showcase images of the cross in daily life, illustrating how representations of the cross are all around us, influencing us to a greater or lesser extent. Last year I submitted several photographs to a local exhibition, and this online exhibition could be well worth a visit, if it attracts enough submissions.

I took these images late this afternoon. They are probably too subtle to submit, lack enough contrast; but a negative image cross (i.e. one formed by the space between solid forms) has been created in this finely-chopped onion.* The very ordinariness of this tiny detail gives it its power: brings the cross into the heart of the home, grounded in the domestic busyness of the kitchen; emphasises the place of the cross in God’s ongoing everyday provision for our lives; speaks of its sweet-and-bitterness…


*the handiwork of my wife – I have no idea how to cut an onion like that!


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3 comments:

  1. Glad you liked the idea (which wasn't mine!)

    I liked your onion photo too. The first thing I noticed when I saw it was the vicious knife that did the cutting. Was this left in the photo as a deliberately violent image representing crucifixion?

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  2. Yes, it was. The photo is not staged - the onion was cut in preparation for making the meal we ate tonight, and I happened to look at it and see the negative image cross; hence the lack of colour contrast. But the photo is very deliberate - I chose not to crop out the knife, for the very reason you suggest.

    For better or worse, image-wise, this approach - not staged, but very deliberate - is how I take photographs in general.

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  3. Gallery entries have now been posted here:

    http://www.roodawakenings.co.uk/Rood%20Gallery.html

    cheers!

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