(the) Passion

I’m thrilled to let you know about this exhibition currently running at the Redeemer Art Gallery, Redeemer University in Ancaster.

The reception, with many of the artists, is this Thursday from 5 - 7 pm.

Some of you will recall the video project I made, last winter, in collaboration with Nathan Stretch. Here’s a chance to see that project at full scale! That project, called Crushed, my beloved, is in this exhibition along with the oil painted portraits I created for the video.

This exhibition brings together ten contemporary artists to reflect deeply on sections of the Biblical passion narratives. The works incorporate painting, sculpture, video, digital print, drawing, and collage.

The artists’ creative processes formed a kind of meditation - lingering on the texts, reflecting on contemporary experiences and driving questions, and trusting the bodily effort of creation to deepen their understanding. The resulting artworks invite a generous, complex dialogue about the meaning of Jesus’ suffering.

The exhibition is not focused narrowly on the suffering of Jesus, but repeatedly gives voice to human suffering in contemporary life. How does Jesus’ suffering meet our own? How might we be called to participate in Christ’s suffering? How does the cross become the marker of God’s solidarity with humanity in all that we go through - including abandonment, accusation, pain, and death? The Passion fuels our own com-passion: the understanding that, in unity of love, we suffer together.

Please join the artists, on Thursday March 2nd, 5 - 7 pm, to learn more about their work, to celebrate their achievement, and to experience the exhibition with others.

The exhibition continues until March 24th.

Redeemer Art Gallery

Redeemer University

Founder’s Hall

777 Garner Road East

Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Promotional Image Credit: Maria Gabankova, detail of As in a Mirror, 2022.