as i am coming to the end of my iconoclastic brief. i have decided to whittle the prints i was going to hand in down to three prints instead of the maximum requirement asked of me (i.e. 5 prints). this image takes into consideration a vast array of sentiments and ideas - themes i am interested in: religious conviction, hypocrisy, perversion of fundamental ideals etc…. i have also added my own love of subversive literature - the impact of an image can be but fleeting, whereas words, the written word, has a lasting effect, a more deep rooted and insidious gnawing away of beliefs and a more challenging aesthetic. here we have a dustbin, my own image, which is representative of religion per se. this was an image i took in my first year brief - to represent spirituality (the representatives, the moral and human representatives not willing to come to the studio for a photosession). giotto’s christ on the cross is a beautiful image - religion being nothing more than to serve the whims of art - religion is total theatre - the elaborate spectacle of a mass or the less-is-more austere interactions of the sparse e.g. quaker meeting house. i took a quote of de sade and added it to the image in the guise of a quote from the new testament (as from the book of matthew)… as christianity is somewhat sadistic (folk being more shocked by a perversion of their mores and collective ethics than the fact that there is a man - a symbol of worship? - nailed to a tree - is this not shocking enough for them?), i have decided to mock the concrete and literal truth that some christians still believe - that they are imbibing the actual blood of christ - wine and partaking of his flesh - wafer. foodstuffs are commercial concerns - christ is a multi-million pound industry (this fact not being lost on the early church fathers). in sum: christ (the pathetic, abused symbol of sanity and salvation) is nothing more than an item of ridicule - whether that be from those who literally dislike christianity or (unknowingly) by those who actually claim to worship him.
N.B WITH MOST OF MY ICONOCLASTIC OFFERINGS I HAVE TENDED TO WORK FROM THE ILLUSTRATIVE SIDE OF THINGS. ALL THE IMAGES I HAVE CREATED ARE BASED ON AN INITIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF MINE - THEY ARE WORKED SO’S THE ORIGINAL IMAGE WILL BE DISCERNABLE OR WILL BE A TOTAL BASTARDIZATION OF THE BASIC PRINT.
