STATIONS OF THE CROSS 2009
by
FIFTEEN OF AUSTRALIA’S TOP VISUAL ARTISTS
Euan Macleod     Greg Warburton    Leo Robba

   Jenny Little      Jeff Hood    Shonah Trescott
Orest Keywan    Yvonne Cleaver  Cassandra Sharp

Reg Mombassa    David Tucker    Lachlan Warner
Rosemary Valadon     Adrian Bailey     Suzanne Archer

“The traditional stations are a lingering expression of medieval devotion. They are existential prayer with a much wider frame.  It is a pattern of life shaped by the human journey from the time we become aware of our mortality or finitude through our sufferings and until we face death.”  

CATALOGUE

The idea of engaging contemporary artists in the project is a way to open a conversation between these themes and the wider human drama being acted out in many forms in contemporary society.  The bread and wine reception connects us both with the story and allows us a chance to bring our own lived experience into conversation with the tradition we have received.

The stations are sequential and follow logically 1-15.  The journey of life is enacted when we walk from one to another.  The journey (in this case) might not be logical and straightforward.  You are encouraged to view the works in sequence and there is a map to guide you.

At each station take some time to look at the work slowly.  Let it come to you.  Allow yourself to experience the work.  Be aware of your physical and emotional response to the work.  What questions, thoughts, ideas come to mind?

Each artist was given one particular ‘Station’ to be the focus of their work. How they made their station was up to them.  The artists were given a brief commentary on the Stations written by Doug Purnell for the purpose and included below and encouraged to do further research by looking on the web.

The Stations:  These Stations are the ‘traditional stations’.  The last Pope determined that as these Stations were not all Biblical images that from that time onwards new Catholic churches would have to include Stations that were Biblical.  Thus you might find a discrepancy between these Stations and Stations in more contemporary Catholic Churches.

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