Artist: Joanne Berg
Medium: Oil on canvas
Station: Jesus takes up his cross
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My consistent impressions while considering creating this piece were feelings of abandonment, despair, and overwhelming exhaustion. Jesus has experienced his trial, the pain of being whipped and of the circlet of thorns being thrust on his head. He now takes up the cross and is confronted by the great distance to Golgotha, where an inevitable and horrific death awaits him. The tortuous walk through Jerusalem’s familiar streets with their reminders of his cultural roots lies ahead, and grows ever more claustrophobic. The noise of the crowd denouncing him falls away, blanketed by a heavy mental fog of fear, sadness, and isolation. If there had been any hope now there is none and his fate is sealed.
Conversation with the Artist
Click here to learn more about our Lent 2016 offering, the Artist’s Way of the Cross.
