Coalesced into a vast necklace of 70 x 7 used disposable communion cups, pearls and gilded angles; For God So Loved the World beautifully explores the tensions within the call to be stewards of the earth.

 

Within my work the disposable communion cup has come to symbolise contradictions and dualities within holy spaces.

 

Observing disposal of thousands of these plastic cups, there seemed a disconnect between the intended meaning of the communion ritual, and it's assimilation into a modern culture of consumption and waste. 

 

Unable to reconcile with the idea that faith communities are somehow  removed from environmental responsibility. The necklace explores what it looks like to have a holy identity, that enriches the environment, rather than diminishes it. 

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In For God So Loved the World, the volume of cups creates an overwhelming necklace; acknowledging the magnitude of the waste problem and ultimately how far we fall short of our own determinations of what it means to be holy.

 

But excess is juxtaposed against overarching grace and empowerment, symbolised by the number of cups; 70x7 (Matthew 18:21-22). Each cup is punctuated by a pearl; an organic gem whose beauty is created from the friction of an irritant lodged in the flesh of an oyster.  Two ornately carved Gold kruvim hold the necklace together at the clasp. Heavenly beings said to have guarded the Arc of the Covenant, signifying the presence of God with humanity.  Read the article by Dr Kevin Murray

 

490 recycled communion cups, fresh water pearls,

Gold plated sterling silver, stainless steel

2600 h x 80 w x 30 d mm

Photographer: Jeremy Dillon

August 2008