Art. Passion. Justice. =================================================== An Exhibition across Manhattan in 14 Iconic Destinations February 14 – April 1, 2018 New York City “Stations of the Cross” is a public art project that breaks open the journey of Jesus, inviting people of all faiths to consider injustice and pain across the human experience. The focus for 2018 is the experience of immigrants and refugees. The exhibition presents a pilgrimage comprised of 14 “art stations” located across Manhattan, from the Cloisters museum to the 9/11 Memorial. Stations 2018 will run from February 14-April 1. The exhibition draws from the ancient Christian devotional tradition breathing new life into the practice, incorporating both familiar monuments and lesser known works to emphasize the contemporary relevance of the Passion. The art we have commissioned and selected explores feelings of despair, hopelessness, abandonment and injustice, all too familiar to refugees and immigrants, and which we can see articulated in the experience of the Passion. Instead of easy answers, these stations aim to provoke questions: artistically, spiritually, and ethically. Stations of the Cross has travelled across the world raising awareness for those in need of refuge. It began in London in 2016, with stops including the National Gallery, the Tower of London, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. In 2017, it was held in Washington, D.C., with stops at the National Cathedral, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and adjacent to the Supreme Court. The Stations team is excited to bring its vision to New York. Show Podcasthow Map00:00 1. Jesus is condemned The Met Cloisters: The Treasury The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum 99 Margaret Corbin Dr, New York, NY 10040 - Jean Pucelle, The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Queen of France, Paris, ca. 1324–28 - The Cloisters Apocalypse, Normandy, ca. 1330 - The Limbourg Brothers, The Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, Paris, ca. 1405-1408/9 - Simon Bening, Book of Hours, Bruges, ca. 1530-35 The Cloisters Collection, 54.1.2, 54.1.1, 68.174, 2015 The Treasury of The Met Cloisters The meditative itinerary known as the Stations of the Cross traditionally begins with the condemnation of Jesus by an angry mob. Our route through Manhattan begins with the baby Jesus’ narrow escape from Herod’s condemnation of the infant boys of Bethlehem. The Cloisters’ manuscripts emphasize different aspects of the Holy Family’s Flight to Egypt. In The Cloisters Apocalypse, the jealous king’s murderous rampage (Matthew 2:13-16) plays out in full color, whereas in a tiny Book of Hours by Simon Bening, the spotlight is on Joseph, clearly anxious about leaving his homeland and confronting danger along the road. The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux and The Belles Heures convey the protective instincts of Jesus’ mother, as Mary envelops her infant in her cloak. Jesus and his parents knew well the fears of refugees and their bravery. The Belles Heures lends a hopeful note, with an angel directing the family’s path. Podcast: Dr. Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator for The Met Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2. Jesus Takes up the Cross City College, New York North Academic Center Plaza Convent Ave & W 138 St Aithan Shapira, Hope, 2012-2018 City College of New York began 170 years ago with the radical idea that one’s origin need not define one’s destiny and one’s burden could become inspiration. This mission resonates with Aithan Shapira. After finding a decade worth of artwork destroyed by a flooded studio, he found solace in the laborious, repetitive act of casting concrete ‘flotation devices.’ Started as monuments of despondence, over time the artist began to see them as signs of renewal. In the Second Station, Jesus picks up the Cross. We might ask: will he carry this weight alone, or with help transform burden into inspiration? CCNY students are from 160 countries. For many, they or their families had to leave home in search of a new life. Here, they transform and thrive as immigrants. So we ask of these lives and symbols: will they submerge us in despair, or lift us with hope? Podcast: Dr. Glen Milstein, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at CUNY 3. Jesus Falls Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church Harlem 521 W 126th St New York, NY 10027 Mark Dukes, Our Lady of Ferguson and All Those Killed by Gun Violence, 2016. This work is on loan from the private collection of the Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones. There is an epidemic of gun violence in America, from school shootings to domestic violence to disproportionate force by authorities. In this icon, the Virgin Mary offers comfort to all those who have fallen to gun violence, and those who mourn their passing. The icon holds special significance for people of color unfairly targeted by law enforcement. The Madonna and Child raise their hands in a doubly significant gesture. It is both the orans posture of intercession in Christian worship and the sign “Don’t Shoot!” These words became a rallying cry for protestors in Ferguson, Missouri after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown. This station commemorates the moment in which Jesus falls for the first time on his way to Golgotha. Crucially, Jesus gets back up, continuing his solemn march. For communities working to stem gun violence, the challenge is similar: how to get back on one’s feet, however daunting the struggle ahead. Podcast: Rev. Mark Bozzuti Jones, Priest & Director Latin America & Caribbean Relations & Core Values at Trinity Church 4. Jesus Meets His Mother Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine 1047 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025 Dua Abbas, Marsiya, 2017 Dua Abbas is an important emerging artist based in Lahore, Pakistan. In this work, she draws upon European devotional art, especially medieval paintings in The Cloisters collection in New York. Her cut-out animation combines this iconography with original photographs of her family members observing mourning rites during the Islamic month of Muharram, including decorative materials used in the construction of a commemorative model, or Tazia. During Muharram, Shiite Muslims commemorate the seventh-century martyrdom of the Imam Husayn ibn Ali (grandson of the Prophet) at Karbala in modern-day Iraq. The artist comments: “I was interested in similarities between the figures of Mary (mother of Jesus) and Fatima (mother of Husayn) and the cultures of remembrance that have developed around the sufferings of their sons. I have tried to explore themes of maternal devotion, travel and transformation, and the fluidity of faith and its expression.” Podcast: Dua Abbas, artist 5. Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross Riverside Church 490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10027 Siona Benjamin, Exodus: I See Myself in You, 2016 Siona Benjamin has closely followed the conflict in Syria for years, gathering images of refugees fleeing ISIS and Assad. As she began drawing otherwise anonymous individuals, Benjamin found herself repeating the words: “I see myself in you.” As a Jew, Benjamin sees a contemporary Exodus unfolding in the Middle East. The cloud-blue skin of her angelic figures—reminiscent of Hindu and Buddhist deities—adds a further layer, evoking her upbringing in India. After immigrating to the States, Benjamin recalls keenly sensing her identity as a “Jewish woman of color.” Set in the context of the Stations of the Cross, this painting speaks to yet another journey. As Jesus stumbled along the via dolorosa, Simon of Cyrene came to his aid, carrying the heavy cross. Benjamin asks us to think from multiple vantage points about how we might see ourselves in others, shouldering their burden as they grow weary. Podcast: Rev. Kaji Douša Senior Pastor, Park Avenue Christian Church 6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus Church of the Heavenly Rest 2 E 90th St, New York, NY 10128 Michael Takeo Magruder, Lamentation for the Forsaken, 2016-18 Takeo offers a lamentation not only for the forsaken Jesus, but others who have felt the acute pain of abandonment, whether by God or fellow human beings. In particular, Takeo evokes the memory of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have passed away in the present conflict, weaving their names and images into a contemporary Shroud of Turin; a relic famous for its image of Christ, believed to have been created without human intervention. Takeo’s sculpture also calls to mind another sacred image: Veronica’s veil. According to Christian tradition, Veronica offered a cloth to Jesus to mop the sweat and blood from his brow as he trudged along the via dolorosa. Miraculously, a vera ikon (literally: true image) was imprinted on the cloth. As staggering as such a claim is, the real miracle—Takeo’s work suggests—is not the image but the act behind it: compassion. Podcast: Honey Al Sayed, Director of the Media and Arts for Peace Initiative at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Adjunct Professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. 7. Jesus Falls for the Second Time Church of St. Paul the Apostle Columbus Avenue at West 60th St. Nicola Green, Day 6, Sacrifice/Embrace, 2010. Are we seeing this figure from the front or behind? Perhaps we have fallen—like Jesus on his way to Golgotha—and this figure is stretching out his arms to lift us up. Or perhaps it is we who are called upon to follow the figure’s lead, and reach out our own arms to help someone before us. Then again, maybe he is not reaching out in embrace, but instead offering his body in sacrifice, as if upon a cross. It is noteworthy that this image comes from a series, in which it is preceded by Fear and followed by Peace.