Incarnation, Mary and Women from the Bible is a national touring exhibition by British artist, Chris Gollon. It opened this week at Chichester Cathedral and is attracting media interest and critical acclaim.
Each host-cathedral suggests new subjects for Gollon to respond to. Following a conversation with Chichester's Canon Chancellor Dr Anthony Cane about his research on Judas, Gollon took up his suggestion of painting Judas' wife. She is a mysterious and complex woman, an unnamed figure in the imagined hinterland of Judas' life.
Gollon's unique image reveals his capacity to pay attention to the gaps in a familiar story. He engages with her as a woman whose husband has committed suicide and whose bereavement is made more acute as she confronts Judas' role in Jesus' death. Gollon portrays this dark moment of mental anguish, incomprehension and utter despair.
In Judas' Wife we face the disruption of death and the alienation of grief. The image conveys a reality which words alone are too weak to express. The present moment is intensified in a way that is characteristic of Gollon's work. He makes us wait with these women; he does not resolve things for us.
In Hannah, we are drawn to a woman who is desperately longing for a child. For her, the absence of new life carries both the weight of loss, yet she also embodies the tenacity of hope and the sensuality of human love. Her silent prayer is an emotional and instinctive cry. At a human level, we identify with her desires.
Yet Gollon does more than reflect our humanity; these particular women are infused with light. These are resilient women. As they face the frailty and potential of life, something of the beyond breaks in. As they grapple with desire and loss, something of God's love seeps through. There are glimpses of grace.
In Gollon's Madonna and Child , we see this most vividly. There is the recognisable human intimacy and tenderness of a mother nursing a son as he grows out of infancy into childhood. They are bathed in a radiant light – yellow, gold and white. She is poised but does not meet our gaze. Her son reaches out to use without looking directly at us.
Gollon draws our attention to the apple that Mary is holding, a reminder of the temptation faced by Adam and Eve and of our human propensity to wound, disappoint and pursue our own desires. He draws our attention to the way Jesus reaches out towards the apple in his mother's hand: a reminder of God's faithful love and forgiveness, of God's desire to restore us.
In the Pieta, which completes Gollon's diptych, and in images such as Madonna of the Apple the cost of this love is made more explicit. We see bruised and bloodied flesh, tear-stained eyes and a mother's pierced heart. From his Stations of the Cross at St John's Bethnal Green to his Women of Jerusalem and Magdalene at the Base of the Cross, Gollon is an artist takes us to the heart of the Gospel in new ways. He challenges us to reflect more deeply on a love that will not let us go.
This extraordinary exhibition opens up new horizons of understanding, giving us space to explore faith and seek meaning.
Rev Dr Julie Gittoes is is a Residentiary Canon at Guildford Cathedral. She blogs at juliegittoes.blogspot.co.uk. Follow her on Twitter @JulieGittoes.
