There are all kinds of images of transformation around us, both current and and from history (and art history) which impinge on consciousness when making photographs. Although I'm an atheist I feel a bit nervy about appropriating something from the back catalogue of my life/peoples' belief - the Crucifixion being the big one. I grew up in a Catholic family with this (and other religious inconography, such as Jesus showing his glowing heart and the Virgin Mary, both as big framed prints and tacky sculptures) being all over the house. My parents were Irish and despite living in England for over fifty years the presence of these reminders of faith eventually reduced but never disappeared in their lifetimes.
The Crucifixion, seen in physical terms it is a terrifying destruction of a sacred life - but religious interpretation explains it as the necessary step towards liberation, life after death. Generally destruction of one form is required for another form of existence. On a mundane level the process of deconstruction and reconstruction can manifest itself in many ways, whether it be in one's personal life with for instance the beginning or the ending of relationships or in our environment through changes in land use as the old becomes obsolete and makes way for the new. Changes can be accompanied by a combination of fear, loss and exhilaration and liberation.
The cruciform position, with the arms extended wide is obviously a provocative pose - made more so by then varying it to that of a performer, where the arms are extended to invite appreciation or even embrace. It's a melodramatic device in either case.
As a further aspect of a complex presenting of the body it is a gesture of supplication, at the moment when one accedes to social justice, to figures of authority and power, when stopped and searched, where an offence is assumed to have occurred.
The Crucifixion, seen in physical terms it is a terrifying destruction of a sacred life - but religious interpretation explains it as the necessary step towards liberation, life after death. Generally destruction of one form is required for another form of existence. On a mundane level the process of deconstruction and reconstruction can manifest itself in many ways, whether it be in one's personal life with for instance the beginning or the ending of relationships or in our environment through changes in land use as the old becomes obsolete and makes way for the new. Changes can be accompanied by a combination of fear, loss and exhilaration and liberation.
The cruciform position, with the arms extended wide is obviously a provocative pose - made more so by then varying it to that of a performer, where the arms are extended to invite appreciation or even embrace. It's a melodramatic device in either case.
As a further aspect of a complex presenting of the body it is a gesture of supplication, at the moment when one accedes to social justice, to figures of authority and power, when stopped and searched, where an offence is assumed to have occurred.
