Taking both religious and secular expressions of devoutness, Devotion examines ritualized modes of engaging with images, texts and the body. The works included seek connections to – or highlight decouplings from – an era when the transmission of knowledge and imagery was far more cloistered than today.
Can a parallel be drawn between the religious re-reading and rewatching your favorite film over and over on an old video tape? Does seeking out a passage in a spiritual text for guidance bear similarity to combing through decades of old magazines for something remembered from adolescence? Both are used as a means to understand who one is in the present and how one can go forward. The contemporary artworks included nevertheless demonstrate a wariness towards absolutes. Their devotions are less ritualized, less rote, encouraging plurality and reinterpretation.
