18th Mar 2011
Cherry Blossoms Prayer for Japan
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Prayer can be visual art.
As an artist, there are times when I can best express myself , my prayers as art because even though I use words– the letters of words actually as my strokes, my hands can sing the words of my heart in a way that my mouth cannot.
One week ago today, my best friend and prayer partner, Rebecca Sellers, called me at 7 AM , waking me up. Rebecca knows better than to ever call me at that hour as I usually work into the early morning hours, after our prayer time ends, usually after midnight.
Fearing someone had died; I picked up the phone and asked, “What happened?”
“We have to pray. There’s a tsunami headed for Hawaii after a massive earthquake in Japan,”
We watched together and channel surfed TV and web from our home offices, mine in New York and Rebecca’s in Florida we learned that a tsunami has also hit Japans north east coast. And we prayed, and prayed—not our usual once a day joining together, but several times a day as the news story develops.
Sadly, the tragic story continues to develop as the full devastation and destruction continues to be discovered and grow due the nuclear crisis which has curtailed some rescue effort while creating another horrific threat.
Where I live the leaves of the jonquils and crocuses can be seen pushing up out of the earth. There are gnarly bumps of buds and new growth on bushes and trees. These promise a coming burst of colorful blossoms, much needed after an unusually bitter cold and snow filled dreary winter.
The stores, flyers and even shopping channels that I surf to during commercials are promoting seedlings, seeds and garden stuff, which visually coexist just one click away with my remote, or a turn of the page in a newspaper with the news and images coming from Japan.
I kept thinking about flowers and Japan as I created what could be called a basic Essence Portrait of a rose, using the original letters of Deuteronomy 6 for strokes. This is a basic Bible text prayed by Jesus, the disciples and many Jews throughout history on a daily basis.
Basic Rose Aleph by Judy Rey Wasserman
Strokes are Deuteronomy 6
But these flower had nothing intrinsically to do with Japan . I couldn’t think of a flower that could be specifically associated with Japan , so, I asked Rebecca, who immediately replied, “Cherry tree blossoms.”
Perfect.
For Japanese people cherry blossom is considered an omen of good fortune and is also an emblem of love, or affection. They are also an enduring metaphor for the fleeting nature of life represented by spring, which has not yet arrived in Japan .
I set about to find images of cherry blossoms and trees, plus a scriptural text that could serve as the strokes to represent what had and was happening and also my prayers and hopes for Japan.
The next night as Rebecca and I were praying via telephone for Japan, we fell silent at a loss for words to express our sorrow, hope, and fears about the situation.
“Hold on,” said Rebecca. After a minute she returned and read aloud, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be moved into the heart of the seas; Though the waters thereof roar and foam, though the mountains shake at the swelling thereof… ‘Let be, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower…”
We said “amen” in unison.
I knew Rebecca had also provided me with the text I needed to use as strokes for the cherry blossoms, Psalm 46. Perhaps coincidentally, the full text of Psalm 46 also seems to allude to the events in the Middle East as “nations topple”, which is also currently in the news.
Cherry Blossoms Prayer for Japan by Judy Rey Wasserman
Strokes are Psalm 46
This is the second time a tsunami that a story for the results of a tsunami inspired me with a new series of art. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami coincided with a blizzard here, which together focused me on how wild animals endure and overcome nature’s fury and trials. The Written on the Wind series depicts animals.
Rebecca and I continue to pray for the people of Japan and those who are there to aid them and report on their stories to us all. I have plans for more art about Japan to inspire and offer hope.
The Cherry Blossoms Prayer for Japan will be available as a print next week to help raise funds for Japan. Sign up for the newsletter, follow me on Twitter or the Facebook Fan page for news about that offering, which will bless your home or office space while you bless those in need.
I do not have a name for the new series depicting flowers, and if you have a suggestion please tweet it to me @judyrey or post it on my Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-Rey-Wasserman/54246793250
[ Rebecca Sellers lives and works in Orlando, Florida where she is the owner of CMEWebs http://cmewebs.com/ Follow her on Twitter @cmewebs
Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art-- A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke. Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey . ]
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