Media : Cut archival pigment prints, smoke, pins, ink, gold leaf.
Jerusalem the city where three of the world’s major religions converge, Temple Mount is the sacred site for both the Muslim and Judaic religions, where the emotional intensity of belief has not surprisingly lead to frequent disputes, frictions and violence, something that continues to be an ongoing feature.
The imagery on the surface of the work depicts the western wall and those of Jewish faith praying as they have done for the last two thousand years. For the Jews just behind the Western Wall is the most sacred site in Judaism, The holy of holies, the place where the world came into being. On the rock, under the Dome is where God is believed to have created the first human and where God created the world. It is also the place where Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son. Under the rock itself is a cave known as The Well of Souls, deriving from medieval Islamic legend that it is here that the dead can be heard awaiting judgement day. According also to Jewish legend it is below this cave amidst the ruins of the first Jewish Temple that the Ark of the Covenant rests.
The Dome of the Rock is the third most holy site in the Muslim religion and is believed to be the place where Muhammed ascended to paradise. The Western wall forms the outer boundary to the sacred site.
The surface has been cut through and combined with figures from the Biblical past. This turbulent history is recalled by the half seen phantoms and ghosts of the figures of religious history. Below this layer is the form of The Dome of The Rock, cut from a black and white photograph of the Dome.
The surface has been heavily smoked and the rear layer is made from Mulberry paper stained in ink and backed with gold leaf. Green has multiple meanings in Islam but in particular is associated with nature, life and purity and is seen as the color of paradise.
The first Jewish temple was built by King Solomon in 957BC, destroyed by the Babylonian empire in 586BC. Initially rebuilt in 587BC and expanded by King Herod in 1 BC. Destroyed by The Roman Empire in 70AD and invaded by The Crusaders in 1099. The Dome of the Rock was built on top of the site of the second Jewish temple in approximately 688AD.
