A Painting of Judas (left) and Jesus (right) embracing in the garden of Gethsemane carried into Churches in West London.
This is the moment when Judas indicates to the arresting officers who they are to arrest and is seen as the great betrayal. Jesus is the embodiment of all that is love and Judas is greed, doubt, fear etc. I started the painting with this perspective in mind and found the two characters deeply entwined in the final image. These two symbolic extremes are held within every person. Curious about forgiveness in Christianity (was Judas forgiven?) and stifled by a feeling that the life of a painting was only in it’s creation, I planned to carry it into several churches near my home. On my first outing I felt unsure of my position and although I’m not particularly religious there was a sense of blasphemy I struggled to overcome. Later I realized this tension was part of the process and vivacity of this creative gesture.
