Igshaan Adams is a contemporary South African 'thread' or weaving artist . They create instillation's and sculptures that are beautiful and meaningful.
Thread was one the growing mediums of art in 2024. As we move towards a more machine learning future and whatever that looks like and feels like, the very essence of what makes us human is pushing back.
Igshaan's work is often ordered and easy to engage with but sometimes it reflects the whirlwind and storm of our past and of our present.
The process of unlearning and sitting in the discomfort of that space is painful and unsettling.
Relearning and re ordering of old habits and ways of thinking takes time. This is especially true when thinking again about theology when the foundations of this theology have been engrained.
Loney yes, but it is not always lonely. Nearly all of the people I love dearly have, in some or other form, journeyed along these tracks , in one or another form. And so we continue to meet and talk and think and read. What a joy. I have a very dear friend who is studying theology in quite a different context and boy do we chew the fat. Another dear friend and I wrestle and laugh and are angry together over some of the oppressive things we believed and tried to live out, though painful and damaging. For theology does not simply remain in active. It works itself out in peoples lives and is either life giving or deeply harmful. Working through the damage and harm is and continues to be the most difficult thing for me personally. Layers upon layer. My dear sweet friends, I love you each one as you have walked and continue to walk in love and honesty with me. I am also grateful for those few friends from my old faith space, who continue in there and have not written us off as " lost" or no longer christian.
I have also met new people with fresh ideas and deep faith in Jesus. These dear ones have challenged so much of my thinking and fed so much more too. And then there are those who have written books and are active online who help those of us who are relearning to feel and know we are NOT alone. The struggles are not the same but are often similar. The sadness at years seemingly ' wasted' and the losses we have had to face as well as the fraught shame with which we view some of the old ideas we though were truth.
And it is ok.
It is ok to look at the bible with fresh eyes and see those things we have not seen before.
It is ok to unlearn and rethink and to renavigate. It is all ok.
A dear friend and the another reminded me that is is good to grow and change. And it is indeed.
More and more I get to spend time with older people. Honestly, I am not really an old person , person but I am learning to be .
My adult art class includes three delightful women in their 70's. What amazing people who share their stories and present struggles openly. We have wept together and are learning some new art theories, together. We talk and laugh. One of the things I so admire about these women, is their ability and desire to learn.
Much like many artists I admire , including the amazing Georgia O Keeffe, who continued to paint into her very old age and when her eye sight grew dim, she took up pottery.
Mindset and helping the every increasing aging body to stay " well oiled" is part of the story of growing old. What I want to commit to myself is to keep on listening, reading, learning and unlearning and learning again.
No comments:
Post a Comment