“PEeLing Religion off of PoP CuLture?”
~Introductory Post~
Creative development is usually an intent that stems out of nowhere. It would be a dishonest and crude reflection , though, to utter the admission that I had intended to create this picture as the backdrop to this blogging site for purely artistic perplexity. In part, this image seeks to rip apart the plausible, the unquestioned and the profane aspects of popular culture that injects itself into the quandaries of religion.
Who am I to make such discernments?
In one lens, I am part of that million, world-wide consumer audience that is lured into the translational warps of hegemonic play at hand. I am the viewer, looking and pondering my way to respond to the stock images of gender subordination that I am implicitly succumbed to.
They say the work of the artist never bears fruits without a reaction from the onlooker. On this small level, there lies a subtle, yet discreet dichotomy — I am the inventor of this image and you are the onlooker. I am the producer; you are the receptor of these neo-liberal channels.
But what happens if the positions were to be reverted? Where on in the scale does our magnitude lie under the elite and hegemonous powers? Who dictates our impression of cultural views through the apparatus of media?
The consumerist assembly line is a constant production of singular, static notions, catered to the higher hegemonic powers at hand. The mosaic I have shared is an attempt to, otherwise, carve out the multiplicities that exist in the representation of religion and popular culture formats.
Take a glimpse at this picture and allow yourself to unwrap these layers where religion lies intertwined with popular culture.
I invite you to peel off these layers with me. Perhaps, in our discovery,we shall unearth new mediums to challenge and question our relationship with religion in the interface of culture.
-J.Seegobin.
