Station 10

Humility (Diptych - detail)
Fish scales, dress-makers pins, pin board, enamel paint 
73.5 x 73.5  x 4 cm, 73.5 x 47 x 4 cm
Image courtesy of the artist

The cross is the most recognised of Christian symbols, but there is another Christian symbol that is also renowned worldwide - the ‘Ichthys’ fish symbol. The Ichthys has an interesting history having been used by early Christians as a secret code to identify meeting places, burial sites and even fellow Christians. Followers of Jesus were persecuted after his crucifixion and the fish symbol became a marker that fellow Christians would recognise but others would not. It is said that sometimes when a Christian met a stranger travelling, the Christian would draw a single arc in the dirt, representing half of the fish symbol. If the stranger drew the missing arc completing the symbol then both knew they were in safe company.

My interpretation of Jesus is Stripped is somewhat literal in regard to the art making process as it involves the stripping of scales from the fish’s flesh. During the process of separating flesh from scale the physical pain of Jesus’s stripping comes to mind. Just like the attachment between fish’s skin and scale, Jesus’s clothes had also adhered to his body making removal painful. The piercing of each scale with a pin conjures up this physical pain.

It is slow meditative work giving precious time in which to contemplate the essential fragility of life. It also makes me think about the humility needed to endure the psychological torture of being stripped naked in public. The humility of being in a stripped-down state, where what you see is what you get, there is no mask and there is no pretense.

Biography

Dawn is a graduate of Curtin University of Technology (Fine Art) and Claremont School of Art. With a strong interest in nature, movement, physics, science and biology Dawn utilises the strategic placement of repeated forms to create sculptural textures and patterns that are imbued with a sense of dynamic energy. She has an affinity for transforming ordinary or overlooked objects into something unique and exceptional, elevating them to a level beyond their intended use.