Based in the field of expanded painting, my visual practice investigates where the sacred worship of religious iconography intersects the secular viewing of art, subverting the gallery space into a site of worship. Inspired by the ecclesiastical tradition, my oil paintings form a triptych, demonstrating a rite of birth across the three panels. The explicit content of these paintings is guarded within protective, skeletal frames, made using sculptural processes I independently developed over the last year. Their design is inspired by religious ornamentation and rock formation found in caves. Sculptures by the late Imogen Stuart further developed this research. The texture of the frames imitates bone as a metaphor to convey the internal becoming exposed. This corresponds with the fundamental motivation of my current practice, revealing the latent role of religious myth as an allegory for that which is inherently psychological and subjective. By harnessing archetypal content rooted within mythology, I am conducting a demonstration of self-mythology in order to challenge what is truly considered ‘sacred’ in art. Within my oil paintings, I am projecting my likeness upon the fabled figure of Lilith reclaiming her mythology in its association with biblical accounts of Genesis, as a means to ultimately reinvent myself in the process. I am contextualizing this work as an installation that imitates a spiritual site akin to a tabernacle, rousing a cathartic ritual of rebirth between us both and reinforcing the proposed sanctity of this process. The representation of Lilith as a religious icon elevates her beyond her traditional role as the artist’s muse and compromises the authority of the sacred. The sand assumes the role of an intermediary agent between the disciple and deity, viewer and art, harnessing nature as a tool for worship in an elaboration of dialogues pioneered by feminist artists of the Goddess movement such as Ana Mendieta. It represents evidence of past human participation in worshiping the feminine divine and perhaps incitement for current intervention.
