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| Station XI |
Artist Statement: Station XI is one in a set of Stations of the Cross imagined as contemporary icons of suffering and redemption. The scenes are bare of color, rendered only in shades of brown. The figures are contemporary, ordinary men and women. As viewers, we are drawn into Jesus’ interaction, his tenderness, toward those around him, remarkable in the face of his own suffering. In this scene of the nailing, Jesus turns to gaze with compassion on the soldier, cradling the soldier’s hand in his. And the soldier halts - in the midst of his task - to gaze back at Jesus. The contemporary figures and dress set the narrative in our own time; the gold background sets the story in the eternal time of the icon tradition. The framing panel - painted oxblood red, with the Station number picked out in gold above, and a biblical text below – calls to mind the vivid polychrome and gilding of medieval altarpieces and sculptures. Bio: Margaret Adams Parker is a printmaker, sculptor, and theological educator (an adjunct instructor at Virginia Theological Seminary since 1991.) |
