Iconographies of Catastrophe and Lament
Hurricane María and the discussions that followed it prompted reflections on images and meanings of “apocalypse” in times of ecological crisis. By Mayra Rivera
Category: Art
Contemporary Art as a Spiritual Tool for Facing Eco-Crisis
The Harvard Natural History Museum exhibition Next of Kin: Seeing Extinction through the Artist’s Lens used a series of design elements to create a space for mourning and discovery. By Christina Seely
Indigenous Practices in Contemporary Art
The thematic presence of ecological spiritualities in artworks found at four art exhibitions. By Daniela Cordovil
Maisie Luo, Earth Seer
In November 2021, Maisie Luo took a ritualistic path through Harvard Yard with her painting of the North Atlantic right whale. By Terry Tempest Williams
A Year of Being With
Paintings, poetry, and reflections on entering a state of being “fully aware of the presence of another being and our shared environment” while making art. By Maisie Luo
Ways of Knowing, Ethics of Care in Piranesi’s Labyrinth
Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi evokes an ethics of care within a mythical landscape haunted by continuous loss. By Courtney Sender
‘It Felt Like a Community Was On My Wall’
A Q&A with artist Ellen Elmes, about painting portraits of the 23 victims of the 2019 El Paso shooting. By Wendy McDowell
Paths to Abstraction: Spirituality in the Work of Three Women Artists
Exploring the link between spiritual liberation and abstract artistic expression in paintings of Hilma af Klint, Hilla Rebay, and Vicci Sperry. By Ann Braude
A Heartwarming and Heartbreaking Exhibit
Syria: A Living History, a recent exhibit at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, focuses on the human context of art and artifacts. By Robert Israel
The Mogao Caves as Cultural Embassies
Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road, an exhibition at the Getty Center, Los Angeles. By Marcia Reed
The Conscious Heart
By making us present to ourselves, the practices of art and of prayer can cultivate awareness of our inmost being, waking us to love and compassion. By Mary Anderson
Artists Make Good Theologians
Longing for Mary and for the unsayable in the poetry of Mary Szybist and the art of Hayley Barker. By Sarah Sentilles
Religious Law and the Visual Secular
What do we mean when we say a work of Western art, especially a representation of religious law, has both “secular” and “religious” significance? By Suzanne Smith
The Work of Art and the Art of Life
Art, religion, ritual, dance, and song are not different phenomena, but moments in an existential struggle to act vicariously upon the world—bringing it into being. By Michael Jackson
Two-Part Invention
Our vocational lives tend to be complex, unpredictable searches for meaning on many levels, from the quotidian to the transcendent. By Nancy J. Nordenson
Exposing the Fine Lines
A review of Susie Linfield’s The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence. By Chris Herlinger
Into the Infinite Together
Patti Smith’s Just Kids. By Stephanie Paulsell
Reading the ‘Book of Nature’
“Natural Revelations,” an exhibit of paintings by Susan Swartz. By William A. Graham
Immaterial Witness
A painter discovers that spirituality can be found in what is sensed rather than in what is seen. By Madeleine Avirov
Leaning toward Enlightenment
Shinjo Ito’s artworks are both beautiful and powerful works of art and profoundly religious images. By Margaret R. Miles
