Maria Makepeace
Has a B.Ed degree in Art from the University of Newcastle-upon Tyne and a Masters in Theology and Ministry from Durham University. She paints large acrylics, small watercolour landscapes
and mixed media illustrations - and studied screenprinting at Spectro Arts Workshop and etching at Charlotte Press - both in Newcastle. She has worked as an art teacher, graphic designer/illustrator, artist in residence at Cranmer Hall, John's College, Durham University and Art History examiner - and has had numerous solo exhibitions in Tuscany and Northern England. She is currently Reader and Artist in Residence at St. Mark's English Church, Florence, where she dreamed up the idea of Dignity through Art.
Human Jig-Saw Cross
Acrylic 2m50x1m50cm
Back in England, in 2011, I was commissioned to paint a human-sized cross for City of Sunderland College, based on the ideas and discussions of students and staff about “Who Are the Oppressed in Society?”
Here, in Italy, I live in a small flat, with no space for painting large pieces of work. Having had the idea for what became the Dignity through Art Project, I felt it would be unfair of me to ask others to do something that I had not previously attempted myself. So I went out, talked to a few “street people” – some of whom I already knew – and painted them. One person would not let me depict her, but from various conversations I had learnt of her love for pigeons; especially a wounded pigeon.
The refugee crisis was dominating the headlines at the time – especially the photograph of little Aylan, washed up on a beach. In May of last year, St Mark`s Church had visited the Turin Shroud, which was also fresh in my mind.
Gradually all of this diverse information and imagery evolved into The Human Jigsaw Cross; with little bits on 20x30 or 20x20 canvasses coming together in a cross shape. At the top is the Holy Trinity: the rainbow of the Creator/Father; San Bernardino`s “IHS” representing the Son; the dove of the Holy Spirit. Below (based originally on a photo of Aylan as a baby) is a refugee baby – as Jesus himself was. But taking on the humanity of us all – one half of the face is black: the other side is white. Moving down we see the canvas of Jesus – an attempted reconstruction from the shroud image. Central is the heart.
The horizontal axis becomes Christ`s arms stretching out to the suffering world; to a Syrian refugee child hunting for food in the mud, boat-wreck off Lampedusa, Iranian refugees come safely to shore in Greece and the Refugee Church at Calais.
Continuing down the vertical axis we meet the needy of Florence: Ana, a busker from Romania, Muar, a peddler from Senegal, a Sri Lankan boy whose parents are economic migrants, and a beggar from ex-Yugoslavia. At the foot of the cross is the “Pigeon Lady” who would not be painted at that time. But again we have the Trinity, “broken” for us at the foot of the cross – the wounded pigeon in the human hand of a Creator – bearing the mark of the nail.
