public art
Buried
This sculpture was made for the ‘Stations of the Cross’ exhibition at St Matthews Church in Bath.
It represents the point in the story between Good Friday and Easter Sunday: before the resurrection. Jesus and all he represented seemed to have been crushed in the most brutal way imaginable, and his friends were devastated and running scared. Jesus has been buried and this is his memorial stone.
This ledger stone is covered with 30 of his names and titles, organized into three groups; Old Testament names for the Messiah that represent the historic hopes of his people; New Testament names for the Christ that represent the hopes of his contemporaries; and finally Jesus’ names for himself, that represent all that he promised to be.
I have tried to communicate the grief and depth of loss that Jesus’ friends and disciples experienced when they buried him, the loss of all their hopes and dreams, and also perhaps, the apparent loss of Jesus to our own time. But that of course is not the end of the story.
Portland Stone
180cm by 60cm by 5cm