Often I wonder how the world
appeared in the very beginning, the way it was intended to be. The incredible
beauty that still remains is only a fraction of what once was. Man’s grasp has
enveloped the earth and tainted it. Yet, so easily we forget this. If we only take
a moment to get lost in the brokenness of our world, we can be reminded we were
made for so much more.
As I wandered through the paths
of the conservatory I found objects that did not belong. Subtle hints that the
environment was not how it was intended to be in nature. The hands of the
caretakers could be seen hiding in plain sight. I was lost in the fraud. The
true beauty of the life surrounding me was tainted by man’s constraints. In her
work “Getting Lost”, Rebecca Solnit mentions, “That thing the nature of which
is totally unknown to you is usually what you need to find, and finding it is a
matter of getting lost.” Creation’s true and perfect nature is entirely unknown to us, yet getting
lost in the brokenness of creation reminded me of the perfection we have fallen from. It was a paradoxical moment of being reminded of perfection through seeing brokenness.
The order of my pictures is supposed to speak to the concept of fallen beauty as well. The first image serves as almost a warning or caution of what is to come. The middle portions are ordered to flow well from one to another, with some of them paired with like images. The last image is placed at the end as a sort of final statement. The little girl is surrounded by fake green poles, while the real leaf is almost reaching out to her. She stands clasping her hands and almost looks burdened. These elements of the picture summarize how we are surrounded and burdened by fallen nature, while true beauty is still reaching out to us. The nature of the image does a good job of concluding the set of images.
My work fits into two of the categories of art listed in the "What is Art" reading. First, I would place it into the Art and Religion section. The work is made in an attempt to speak to the fallen nature of man that is a central theme within the Bible. Second, I would place it into the Art, Intellect, and Emotion category. The author summarizes this category as art that makes you feel deeply, and consequently makes viewers reflect upon self-knowledge and the knowledge of the outside world. I hope that my work invokes emotion and causes viewers to reflect upon their knowledge of themselves and the world around them.
The order of my pictures is supposed to speak to the concept of fallen beauty as well. The first image serves as almost a warning or caution of what is to come. The middle portions are ordered to flow well from one to another, with some of them paired with like images. The last image is placed at the end as a sort of final statement. The little girl is surrounded by fake green poles, while the real leaf is almost reaching out to her. She stands clasping her hands and almost looks burdened. These elements of the picture summarize how we are surrounded and burdened by fallen nature, while true beauty is still reaching out to us. The nature of the image does a good job of concluding the set of images.
My work fits into two of the categories of art listed in the "What is Art" reading. First, I would place it into the Art and Religion section. The work is made in an attempt to speak to the fallen nature of man that is a central theme within the Bible. Second, I would place it into the Art, Intellect, and Emotion category. The author summarizes this category as art that makes you feel deeply, and consequently makes viewers reflect upon self-knowledge and the knowledge of the outside world. I hope that my work invokes emotion and causes viewers to reflect upon their knowledge of themselves and the world around them.
The parallel between the artificial
world of the conservatory and the world we live was made clear to me as I walked.
The conservatory is a limited representation of how the plant life was supposed to occur
in nature, it was easy to find the artificiality. The truest form of the
beautiful organisms was confined by a manmade environment. This is true for
earth as well. Life is not how it was intended to be. Our environment has been
tainted by man, and we walk in the fraud daily. Just as the little girl
wandered through the conservatory, clueless of the true potential of what
surrounded her; often we wander through life forgetting that beauty was once so
much more.
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8:19-21
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