Katherine Duclos
This artwork has an intriguing title. It reminds me of Bible verses such as “Your word is a lamp at my feet and a light to my path” or “I am the way, the truth and the life”. The artwork itself, with its colours, its playful pieces of Lego and its blocky grid, reminds me of the old-fashioned video game landscapes still present in some of my children’s favourite games today. Here is a varied landscape with rigid passages, with smooth and rough parts, with little traps and enclosed spaces, with rounded bumps and spiky outcrops. At times the colours map out clear paths to follow, but then they suddenly fizzle out or come to an abrupt end. Who will go ahead of us and show us the way forward?
Sometimes we like to think that God has everything mapped out for us, that we just need to find God’s route and follow it. As we look back at our lives we weave it into a coherent story or journey, and it all seems so intentional that we ended up where we are now. But probably that is just our brain playing tricks, turning everything into a story to help us remember things and make sense of the world.
What if life is more like this Lego landscape, with some clear paths, but also full of unexpected obstacles? With no one route, but an open landscape for us to explore and negotiate? What if the question isn’t so much which path we take or follow, but what we do while we’re on it? Do we zip along at a rate of knots or take our time and look around? Do we go alone or with others? When we get trapped in a trough, do we fight it or accept it? Do we wait for others to haul us out or do we try to get out ourselves? And what if there is no right or wrong answer to these questions? But instead, whatever square we are on, our task is simply to see who or what is before us and respond in whatever way will increase peace and love and wholeness?
What does it then mean for the Word of God to be “the way” or “a lamp at our feet” and “a light to our path”? Not to be a map, or an algorithm, or a fixed set of rules for us to follow. Perhaps it is simply the Spirit of God, living within us, helping us to find peace when everything is in turmoil, helping us to connect with others when we are feeling cut off, and helping us to heal when we have run into or been pushed against one of those spikes. For God neither says ‘Game over’ nor gives us an ‘extra life’, like a computer game does. Instead, God scaffolds the light so we will always have the courage to move on to another square.
And when, at some point, someone zooms out of the landscape of our lives, we can only hope that it will look as colourful and beautiful and fascinating as this piece of art.
Biblical References
Your word is a lamp… (Psalm 119:105)
I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)
The Artist
To see more art by Katherine Duclos and find out more about her, have a look at her website or view this YouTube video.
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