In 2019, through the season of Lent, I worked with Rosemary Burdett to lead the congregation at St Stephen’s Anglican church in Warrandyte, in the creation of a painting which embodied moments of prayerful reflection in the lead up to Easter. This short film created by Mark Greenwood captures the process. It seems so long ago now that we were able to meet with one another in worship, to share art materials and the practice of prayer, without the challenges of living in isolation. As I watch this video now I am grateful for the time we took to capture photographs that represented each week of this work in the making. There are so many points at which we could have said, ‘it is finished’, and yet with each new day and week the work was called with us into a new and unimagined place of being. This work was only possible because Rosemary and I chose to risk being with one another and the one canvas that we shared. Through moments of despair and decay the image invites us into the remaking of all that we had imagined, with the gentle light of hope and possibility. Whilst the making happened 3 years ago, now is the time when I need to really see and be with this artwork. Making, being with and seeing…the unimagined. For each there is a time and a season.
Artwork: Libby Byrne and Rosemary Burdett
Video Editing: Mark Greenwood
Music credits: Olafur Arnalds and Stars of the Lid