Magdalene at the Base of the Cross
Chris Gollon 2013
Twelve months after its opening at Guildford, Chris Gollon's solo exhibition 'Incarnation, Mary and Women from the Bible' begins its national tour at Norwich Cathedral (from 17 February). On Sunday 8 February, Gollon spoke on BBC Radio Norfolk about his depiction of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross. She is emotionally exhausted and spiritually spent; yet there remains a physical strength. In boldly chosing to focus on the base of the cross, Gollon intensifies the harrowing reality of her suffering; but he also makes us pay attention to the faithfulness and endurance of a woman whose life is woven into the Gospel, whose story continues to arouse our curiosity.
She is named as Mary Magdalene - a woman who is restored to wholeness and dignity through her encounter with Jesus. The stories of other nameless women are attributed to her: stories of sexual improprity or exploiation; of penitence and restoration; of mental anguish and healing. She is the type of women who witness to who Jesus is: lavishly annointing his feet with oil and tears; crying out with fear and despair on the way to calvary; waiting at the cross, near the tomb and in the garden. Our imaginations are shaped by all that is told in memory of her; all that is told points to a reality beyond our imagining.
In this particular painting, Gollon draws us into a moment of sheer endurance in the face of suffering. Mary has refused to walk away. Her exhaustion is a moment in a vigil that is yet to come to an end; her whole being responds to the one who transformed her life in and through love. Love has been poured into her heart by Jesus - the one who is the fullness of God's love made perfect in human weakness. Gollon presents us with a woman whose character has been formed by sorrow, acceptance, loyalty, challenge and compassion. Her character is seen in sinew and touch; in her poise and closing eyes.
Gollon refuses to resolve this moment for us. We have to wait with her as she waits alongside her beloved Lord. That waiting creates a capacity to endure; it forms our character. It is sometimes all there is: this abiding in love; this refusal to collude with a naive optimism; this facing of the darkness as the tears dry on our cheeks. In an earlier painting, Gollon makes us fix our gaze on one for whom there was no remedy:
She is named as Mary Magdalene - a woman who is restored to wholeness and dignity through her encounter with Jesus. The stories of other nameless women are attributed to her: stories of sexual improprity or exploiation; of penitence and restoration; of mental anguish and healing. She is the type of women who witness to who Jesus is: lavishly annointing his feet with oil and tears; crying out with fear and despair on the way to calvary; waiting at the cross, near the tomb and in the garden. Our imaginations are shaped by all that is told in memory of her; all that is told points to a reality beyond our imagining.
In this particular painting, Gollon draws us into a moment of sheer endurance in the face of suffering. Mary has refused to walk away. Her exhaustion is a moment in a vigil that is yet to come to an end; her whole being responds to the one who transformed her life in and through love. Love has been poured into her heart by Jesus - the one who is the fullness of God's love made perfect in human weakness. Gollon presents us with a woman whose character has been formed by sorrow, acceptance, loyalty, challenge and compassion. Her character is seen in sinew and touch; in her poise and closing eyes.
Gollon refuses to resolve this moment for us. We have to wait with her as she waits alongside her beloved Lord. That waiting creates a capacity to endure; it forms our character. It is sometimes all there is: this abiding in love; this refusal to collude with a naive optimism; this facing of the darkness as the tears dry on our cheeks. In an earlier painting, Gollon makes us fix our gaze on one for whom there was no remedy:
There Was no Remedy
Chris Gollon 2012
Mary Magdalene has both passed beyond and also anticipates this moment without remedy. She has confronted the horror of the cross and sleep weighs heavily on her. Yet when she awakes she will stand bewildered before an empty tomb; she asks through her tears 'where have you laid him?' She waits in the hope of being able to treat her beloved Lord with dignity in death. Yet before we reach the garden, Gollon refuses to allow the darkness to overcome.
As the poet Micheal O'Saidhail writes in Knowing 'A majesty and awe, but even more the wonder/That something is where nothing might have been. Even in our brokeness a beyond is breaking in'. Vivid oranges and yellows infuse this moment with hope. A hope that does not disappoint because it is rooted in the love of God which is being poured out in sorrow and at the end, at the moment of final breath. It is a love being poured out in endurance that means this moment is also the beginning of life. Love has taken root in Mary's heart; a love that she will recognise when her risen Lord calls her by name.
She will bear witness to what she has seen - love welling up in her heart.
Yet, in this moment she abides with us at the base of the cross - where love human and divine is poured out.
As she abides and endures, Paul's words to the Romans echo within us: 'suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us' (Romans 5:3-5).
© 2015 Julie Gittoes
She will bear witness to what she has seen - love welling up in her heart.
Yet, in this moment she abides with us at the base of the cross - where love human and divine is poured out.
As she abides and endures, Paul's words to the Romans echo within us: 'suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us' (Romans 5:3-5).
© 2015 Julie Gittoes
