Places of Light
As a child, it was the art in church that filled me with a sense of awe and wonder, due in large part to the fact that the art in church was far more beautiful than anything else in my small, young world. So naturally I grew up to associate beauty with God . And today I continue to seek out God by looking for beauty, in the ordinary and in the aesthetic.
My own knowledge of God is becoming more robust, as are my expectations for art and its capacity to give visibility to God whom I believe seeks to be seen as much as I seek to see. But am I placing responsibility squarely where it belongs? Who’s job is it anyway, to ‘give visibility to God’, the artist, or the viewer?
My calligrapher friend Roy Parker, OHC, offers an answer when he quotes Emmanuel Cardinal Sumaro, ” To be a witness does not consist in engaging propaganda, nor in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery.”
Photographer Krystyna Sanderson captures a moment of ‘living mystery’ in her photograph above, ‘Places of Light.’ Krystyna is a founding member of the ECVA Board, and, with Jack Moody, leads the ECVA-NY Chapter.
On View: Places of Light #3, photograph. Also seen here.
Sanderson writes, “Light #3 is all about light pouring through open door to illuminate dark place. To be in darkness is to be without hope, to be desperate, to give up. But there is nothing more joyous than light when one is in darkness. Light means hope. Light means freedom. Light means life. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our hope, our joy, and our life.” – from: It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, Square Halo, 2007.