Copyright by Lei Zhang Shanbhag

ARTIST STATEMENT

2006

The cross is an ancient pre-Christian era symbol interpreted by some occultists as uniting the male phallus (vertical bar) and the female vagina (horizontal bar). It is also a symbol of the four directions and a powerful weapon against evil.

The cross later became associated with Christianity though it wasn’t an early Christian symbol. There are many non-Christian Crosses. However, through history, it became an iconography representing Christ himself. Thus, a legend was been created around the symbol giving it a life of its own.

Through this body of work, I try to examine the relationship between a religious icon and the commonly held knowledge associated with it, in order to demonstrate the awning gap between the two. By using the photo images from our daily life, and putting it on the cross, this work lets the viewers explore the relationship between the images and the icon, and the projection of the latter on to the images.

From an esthetic point of view, I am experimenting with the visual intensity and impact of icons on other images. How do they interact with different elements? Do icons generate more meaning than other elements? Or is it that the other elements determine how we view icons? Do icons enhance each other? Can an icon be more beautiful than what it was intended to be? Does one add more meaning to it if one makes it more attractive? Does the beauty just stop at the surface or does it have more to offer in order to achieve greater power?