Shannon Jamieson: WAR

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Shannon Jamieson

The misrepresentation of light. Stained glass windows; harnessing, altering and transforming the natural rays that selectively permeate colored glass into a designated place of worship. Brilliant colors, booming acoustics, and ornate decoration; trick the viewer into believing they are in a holy sanctuary. Judeo-Christian Cathedrals are being abandoned because of their distortion of light [God].

As a queer ex-Christian; I abandoned ship because of the churches’ restrictive gender and sexuality politics. Filled with a learned fear and shame for my desires, I am determined to unlearn messages that only led to self-disgust. I am at WAR with the establishment that taught me that God’s light did not shine on queers. I return to the scene of the crime; a desolate, turn of the century church in France. I am armed with perspective and a camera in order to facilitate the long process of shedding my indoctrination. Finding identification with the discarded sculptures I create mise en scenes that dramatize the process of reassembling my faith and perception of light.