Thursday 29 April 2021
Friday 23 April 2021
jesusmafa painting : Footwashing; Peter’s initial shock/horror that Jesus would ever do this menial task of washing his feet...
villagers in the Mafa area of the Cameroon worked together on various Biblical narratives and acted them out so that they could be photographed and later painted to make posters which could be shown to groups learning about Christianity to enable them to understand the Bible... they amassed a large number of paintings which are beautiful in portraying Jesus as an African living among them...this painting is just one example...
and here is another.....
jesusmafa : Jesus heals a blind man
Thursday 22 April 2021
for Indian Christian paintings in more Hindu style, see the artwork of Jyoti Sahi
Continuing this series on Christian paintings from various cultures... I am hoping to show you some more from Jesusmafa... & hopefully also some from Sri Lanka...
you might also be interested in a book published by the World Council of Churches: Christ for All Peoples...
Wednesday 21 April 2021
Sunday 18 April 2021
Jesus as the Good Shepherd John ch 10 : jesusmafa, Camerounian painting
good ! It took me some time, but I did manage to access my photos again today & Ive found another “good shepherd” painting... and for anyone who finds it confusing that this is a very ‘white’/European style after the African painting above... does it really matter whether Jesus is portrayed as an African or Indian, Chinese or European ? well... I think the answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’... even more confused ?
Well... we really have no idea at all what Jesus looked like... oh there have been various legends, but they only go back to about the 14th or 15th century... not back to the first century AD...the Gospel writers never mention what he looked like, and although its strange for us to realise, there were no phones or cameras around then, and so no first century photos ! So all we know is that he probably looked like any other first century Jew living in Palestine...often outdoors & travelling the length & breadth of the country, probably on foot & sometimes on a donkey, so he would most likely have been very brown and quite rugged.
Why then do we have so many paintings of Jesus showing him as a pinkish-white’ European-looking person ?
Maybe that has more to do with the history of art and both the artists and those who commissioned them than anything else...
For the first 200 years or so Jesus was depicted through symbols eg the first letter of the alphabet elongated into the shape of a fish, or an anchor drawn with the cross-bars as a reminder of the crucifixion and resurrection... were these perhaps hidden, secret symbols ? as Christians were persecuted and put to death for their faith... ? By the third or fourth century paintings on the walls of the Roman Catacombs [burial chambers ] were portraying Jesus as the Good Shepherd, in a Greek or Roman style of painting
Then we have the great artists of the Rennaisancelike Leonardo &Michaelangelo...both Italians...commissioned by Italian Popes... so naturally they would have chosen an Italian model when painting their pictures or creating sculptures ...including those of Jesus... and so we have tended to follow these artists, and have somehow come to think of Jesus as a ‘white’ person, without really thinking about it...Fortunately there are several artists from different cultures & countries around the world who are now seeing Jesus through their own eyes and painting him in many different ways...Over this next week or two I will try to find you some examples of paintings of Jesus from Indian, Chinese & African artists & more...
Saturday 17 April 2021
Thursday 15 April 2021
As I opened up this blog today I received a notice saying there will no longer be any email notifications sent out to all of you who have signed up to receive them whenever I post something new....apologies !
Then I discovered there is no longer the possibility of adding a picture...ooops
aha :) just at that moment my cat jumped up.... I have no idea what she did... but suddenly it became possible for me to access my photos again.... so here we go......and here she is...
Tuesday 13 April 2021
Monday 12 April 2021
I was reading about Comfrey recently, and then saw this plant which seems to have seeded rather like a wildflower down the bottom of our garden. Ive taken rather a liking to this little flower with its tight - knit spiral of buds gradually opening up in a much paler pink before the whole area is taken over by bluebells. If this is indeed Comfrey then I am very happy to leave it to grow all over the ground under the Judas Tree as this plant is apparently very good at renewing the soil, for its deep roots bring nitrogen from way below the surface and apparently if we put some of its leaves in with the compost they will help the waste vegetable matter to rot down as well as providing essential nutrients in the mix to enrich the soil for other plants...Quite a relief to find it doesn’t need to be pulled up like several other plants that seed everywhere looking quite pretty, but then I discover they are weeds beginning to take over the garden !
Sunday 11 April 2021
Saturday 10 April 2021
Lincoln Cathedral Chapter House : photo Michael D Beckwith
I love the way the stonework of this central pillar rises up and flows outwards across the whole space... so much joy conveyed through the centuries (from 11th-12th century architect & builders )... after this lockdown is over it would be well worth the climb up the steep hill to spend some time in this cathedral...
But why not celebrate the end of lockdown in June by visiting the
WIVENHOE ART TRAIL: 25th 26th & 27th June 2021 & enjoy a wide variety of free galleries with all kinds of art & craftwork on display in various artist studios throughout Wivenhoe www.wivenhoeartrail.co.uk
Friday 9 April 2021
Thursday 8 April 2021
Monday 5 April 2021
Sunday 4 April 2021
...two figures... could they be Mary & John ?