I am an art and religion Ph.D. student at the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley. My current research in contemporary art history, religion, and spirituality investigates how the oeuvre of contemporary Southwestern American artists is revitalizing the dialogue between secular art and various forms of spirituality and sacred mobility. In my master studies, I examined the tragic and the transcendent aspects of Georgia O'Keeffe and Mark Rothko's work.
:In this essay, I examine how James Turrell’s Skyspaces afford spectators with the opportunity to... more :In this essay, I examine how James Turrell’s Skyspaces afford spectators with the opportunity to reflect on the expansiveness and limits of reality as they move through the perimeter of these artistic interventions. I raise questions of how the site-specific artworks activate a “taste for the infinite,” framed through the lens of the artist’s engagement with themes and ideas from his Quaker tradition and Christianity more generally. I determine the ways in which Skyspaces function as sacred spaces as well as allow for bodies of viewers to mobilizes in ways analogous to religious pilgrimages.
Visions of the Daughters of Albion is one of nineteen illuminated works William Blake produced st... more Visions of the Daughters of Albion is one of nineteen illuminated works William Blake produced starting in 1789 with Songs of Innocence and The Book of Thel and ending with Laocoön in 1826. There are seventeen copies known to exist and all contain eleven plates that were etched for relief printing and were illuminated by Blake. Though modest in size—especially when compared to Blake’s other works such as The Book of Urizen, Milton a Poem, and Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant of Albion—Visions of the Daughters of Albion is an affronting and poignant work that first appeared in print in 1793. The heartbreaking narrative reveals the tragic story of Oothoon, an ambiguous heroine who experiences sexual abuse, non-reciprocal love, denied forgiveness, and existential—perhaps spiritual—crises. Moreover, it is an account of struggles for power as it delineates commentaries on the social, political, and cultural climate of the English society at the turn of the 18th century. Conversely, it is also a tale of maturation, emancipation, and awakening told through the aesthetic marriage of word and image. Such a composite work skillfully weaves together the dissonant stories of Oothoon, Bromion, Theotormon, and the Daughters of Albion, exposing the labyrinthine topography of human relationships. In this essay, I argue that the process that leads Oothoon towards a “perceptual breakthrough,” i.e. a deeper awareness of her condition as concurrently tragic and delightful, begins as a form of female lament and develops into an expression of ontological insights that are beyond verbal and pictorial communication.
When one observes the oeuvre of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), what seems to pulsate at the center... more When one observes the oeuvre of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), what seems to pulsate at the center of her art is an aesthetic and ontological exploration that holds in compositional tension the finite and boundless aspects of her experiences with nature and what she referred to as the “unknown.” In the present study, I argue that O’Keeffe’s paintings can be interpreted as a visual vocabulary that reveals an implicit spirituality as well as elicitors of positive emotions, such as awe and wonder, all of which are deeply rooted in her relationship with the American Southwest. Though O’Keeffe was not particularly religious, her pictorial language reconfigures the 19th century Transcendentalists’ perceptions of God as immanent in the created order, offering visual commentaries on the experiences of finitude, tragedy, transcendence, and transformation. The painter’s representations of the natural world also indicate that not only was she compelled to express an utterly feminine milieu, but she also challenged traditional religious ways of narrating the human movement towards God. By accompanying O’Keeffe’s progression as a painter, we may discover new sensibilities that allow us to contemplate and participate in the communal, indeed, the moving tale of how humanity continues to search for glimpses of the Divine. Such discoveries might compel us to see all living forms as irrevocably worthy. Perhaps, her paintings may also point us towards new possibilities for a future that is more radically inclusive, deeply aware of the intricacies of all living forms, and mindful of our roles in preserving creation in its seen and unseen orders.
When the name Mark Rothko (1903-1970) appears in discussions, it is often accompanied by a memory... more When the name Mark Rothko (1903-1970) appears in discussions, it is often accompanied by a memory of his prototypical abstract paintings that are monumental in scale, elusive in subject matter, and poignantly dramatic. However, Rothko’s work is not comprised only of variations on the same theme. They know that while his oeuvre is, indeed, all of the above, it also invites the viewers to experience the human condition as an ineffable, sublime, and, in his own words, a journey towards the unknown.
In 1962, while working on a commission for Harvard University, Ethel Schwabacher came to visit fellow artist and abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, in his studio in New York. She reported being awestruck at the site of paintings and conjectured that Rothko’s work should have a museum of their own, to which he replied: “no, a chapel.” Rothko’s statement is a testimony to how he envisioned his art functioning beyond the realm of the aesthetic encounter. His visual vocabulary address various dimensions of the human journey, collapsing notions of finitude and eternity, unknowability and familiarity, presence and absence, transcendence and tragedy, spirituality and embodiment. The awe-inspiring depth, frontality, ambiguity, and emotional evocation present in his paintings also inscribe the work with a character of wonder and reverence often associated with religious pilgrimages. A chapel would, indeed, provide the appropriate dwelling for his work.
In the present paper, I argue that the pictorial and architectural programs of the Rothko Chapel allow it to function as a receptacle or vessel for his paintings that require physical dislocation and a participatory engagement from spectators, evocative of sacred pilgrimages. Yet, it is not restrained to specific religious traditions as it was always meant to be a sacred space for interfaith and ecumenical engagement. The chapel, I contend, provides a model for interreligious dialogue and sacred mobility, particularly in a time in which American society has been challenged to confront implicit religious intolerance. In order to support this argument, I will show how the Rothko Chapel offers a model for the integration of architectural space, artistic production, and the diverse bodies of pilgrims. I will rely heavily on the framework of pilgrimage, liminality, and communitas, proposed by Edith and Victor Turner, Simon Coleman and John Elsner's survey on pilgrimage in world religions, followed by an investigation of how the concept of journeying was central to Rothko’s life and career, and finally how the chapel today has become a vessel for interreligious sacred mobility for various faith traditions.
In this paper, I interpret Balmy Alley’s Mission Makeover Mural as a site of remembrance and resi... more In this paper, I interpret Balmy Alley’s Mission Makeover Mural as a site of remembrance and resistance to the erasure and displacement of Chicana/o in the Mission District of SF. Completed in 2012 by Lucia Ippolito, the mural is a visually complex artwork that delineates the social-economic and cultural topographies of the Mission District, creating a poetic and embodied space of imagination in which bodies are able to mobilize, come together, fashion their subjectivities, and reclaim a proper state of agency (1). In her artistic gestures, Ippolito denounces the discriminatory realities of gentrification, marginalization, racial profiling, and police brutality. By placing her work in dialogue with three Latin American artists—Doris Salcedo (Colombia), Marcos Ramirez ERRE (Mexico), and Willie Herrón (USA) who address the Dirty War, *la frontera*, and gang violence, respectively—I posit that the visual arts are indispensable acts of subversion in the struggle for justice. Drawing from the critical frameworks put forth by scholars of Latina/o visual arts and culture, such as C. Ondine Chavoya, Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, Gloria Anzaldúa, and theological aesthetics scholars Frank Burch Brown, John de Gruchy, Gesa Thiessen, Alejandro García-Rivera, and Cecilia González-Andrieu, I further argue that these works perform a distinctive kind of theology through poetic means that gesture to a kind of beauty in the artistic form, while they also denounce the ugliness of subjugation and beckon viewers to participate in the struggle for social transformation.
:In this essay, I examine how James Turrell’s Skyspaces afford spectators with the opportunity to... more :In this essay, I examine how James Turrell’s Skyspaces afford spectators with the opportunity to reflect on the expansiveness and limits of reality as they move through the perimeter of these artistic interventions. I raise questions of how the site-specific artworks activate a “taste for the infinite,” framed through the lens of the artist’s engagement with themes and ideas from his Quaker tradition and Christianity more generally. I determine the ways in which Skyspaces function as sacred spaces as well as allow for bodies of viewers to mobilizes in ways analogous to religious pilgrimages.
Visions of the Daughters of Albion is one of nineteen illuminated works William Blake produced st... more Visions of the Daughters of Albion is one of nineteen illuminated works William Blake produced starting in 1789 with Songs of Innocence and The Book of Thel and ending with Laocoön in 1826. There are seventeen copies known to exist and all contain eleven plates that were etched for relief printing and were illuminated by Blake. Though modest in size—especially when compared to Blake’s other works such as The Book of Urizen, Milton a Poem, and Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant of Albion—Visions of the Daughters of Albion is an affronting and poignant work that first appeared in print in 1793. The heartbreaking narrative reveals the tragic story of Oothoon, an ambiguous heroine who experiences sexual abuse, non-reciprocal love, denied forgiveness, and existential—perhaps spiritual—crises. Moreover, it is an account of struggles for power as it delineates commentaries on the social, political, and cultural climate of the English society at the turn of the 18th century. Conversely, it is also a tale of maturation, emancipation, and awakening told through the aesthetic marriage of word and image. Such a composite work skillfully weaves together the dissonant stories of Oothoon, Bromion, Theotormon, and the Daughters of Albion, exposing the labyrinthine topography of human relationships. In this essay, I argue that the process that leads Oothoon towards a “perceptual breakthrough,” i.e. a deeper awareness of her condition as concurrently tragic and delightful, begins as a form of female lament and develops into an expression of ontological insights that are beyond verbal and pictorial communication.
When one observes the oeuvre of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), what seems to pulsate at the center... more When one observes the oeuvre of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), what seems to pulsate at the center of her art is an aesthetic and ontological exploration that holds in compositional tension the finite and boundless aspects of her experiences with nature and what she referred to as the “unknown.” In the present study, I argue that O’Keeffe’s paintings can be interpreted as a visual vocabulary that reveals an implicit spirituality as well as elicitors of positive emotions, such as awe and wonder, all of which are deeply rooted in her relationship with the American Southwest. Though O’Keeffe was not particularly religious, her pictorial language reconfigures the 19th century Transcendentalists’ perceptions of God as immanent in the created order, offering visual commentaries on the experiences of finitude, tragedy, transcendence, and transformation. The painter’s representations of the natural world also indicate that not only was she compelled to express an utterly feminine milieu, but she also challenged traditional religious ways of narrating the human movement towards God. By accompanying O’Keeffe’s progression as a painter, we may discover new sensibilities that allow us to contemplate and participate in the communal, indeed, the moving tale of how humanity continues to search for glimpses of the Divine. Such discoveries might compel us to see all living forms as irrevocably worthy. Perhaps, her paintings may also point us towards new possibilities for a future that is more radically inclusive, deeply aware of the intricacies of all living forms, and mindful of our roles in preserving creation in its seen and unseen orders.
When the name Mark Rothko (1903-1970) appears in discussions, it is often accompanied by a memory... more When the name Mark Rothko (1903-1970) appears in discussions, it is often accompanied by a memory of his prototypical abstract paintings that are monumental in scale, elusive in subject matter, and poignantly dramatic. However, Rothko’s work is not comprised only of variations on the same theme. They know that while his oeuvre is, indeed, all of the above, it also invites the viewers to experience the human condition as an ineffable, sublime, and, in his own words, a journey towards the unknown.
In 1962, while working on a commission for Harvard University, Ethel Schwabacher came to visit fellow artist and abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, in his studio in New York. She reported being awestruck at the site of paintings and conjectured that Rothko’s work should have a museum of their own, to which he replied: “no, a chapel.” Rothko’s statement is a testimony to how he envisioned his art functioning beyond the realm of the aesthetic encounter. His visual vocabulary address various dimensions of the human journey, collapsing notions of finitude and eternity, unknowability and familiarity, presence and absence, transcendence and tragedy, spirituality and embodiment. The awe-inspiring depth, frontality, ambiguity, and emotional evocation present in his paintings also inscribe the work with a character of wonder and reverence often associated with religious pilgrimages. A chapel would, indeed, provide the appropriate dwelling for his work.
In the present paper, I argue that the pictorial and architectural programs of the Rothko Chapel allow it to function as a receptacle or vessel for his paintings that require physical dislocation and a participatory engagement from spectators, evocative of sacred pilgrimages. Yet, it is not restrained to specific religious traditions as it was always meant to be a sacred space for interfaith and ecumenical engagement. The chapel, I contend, provides a model for interreligious dialogue and sacred mobility, particularly in a time in which American society has been challenged to confront implicit religious intolerance. In order to support this argument, I will show how the Rothko Chapel offers a model for the integration of architectural space, artistic production, and the diverse bodies of pilgrims. I will rely heavily on the framework of pilgrimage, liminality, and communitas, proposed by Edith and Victor Turner, Simon Coleman and John Elsner's survey on pilgrimage in world religions, followed by an investigation of how the concept of journeying was central to Rothko’s life and career, and finally how the chapel today has become a vessel for interreligious sacred mobility for various faith traditions.
In this paper, I interpret Balmy Alley’s Mission Makeover Mural as a site of remembrance and resi... more In this paper, I interpret Balmy Alley’s Mission Makeover Mural as a site of remembrance and resistance to the erasure and displacement of Chicana/o in the Mission District of SF. Completed in 2012 by Lucia Ippolito, the mural is a visually complex artwork that delineates the social-economic and cultural topographies of the Mission District, creating a poetic and embodied space of imagination in which bodies are able to mobilize, come together, fashion their subjectivities, and reclaim a proper state of agency (1). In her artistic gestures, Ippolito denounces the discriminatory realities of gentrification, marginalization, racial profiling, and police brutality. By placing her work in dialogue with three Latin American artists—Doris Salcedo (Colombia), Marcos Ramirez ERRE (Mexico), and Willie Herrón (USA) who address the Dirty War, *la frontera*, and gang violence, respectively—I posit that the visual arts are indispensable acts of subversion in the struggle for justice. Drawing from the critical frameworks put forth by scholars of Latina/o visual arts and culture, such as C. Ondine Chavoya, Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, Gloria Anzaldúa, and theological aesthetics scholars Frank Burch Brown, John de Gruchy, Gesa Thiessen, Alejandro García-Rivera, and Cecilia González-Andrieu, I further argue that these works perform a distinctive kind of theology through poetic means that gesture to a kind of beauty in the artistic form, while they also denounce the ugliness of subjugation and beckon viewers to participate in the struggle for social transformation.
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Papers by Yohana Junker
In 1962, while working on a commission for Harvard University, Ethel Schwabacher came to visit fellow artist and abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, in his studio in New York. She reported being awestruck at the site of paintings and conjectured that Rothko’s work should have a museum of their own, to which he replied: “no, a chapel.” Rothko’s statement is a testimony to how he envisioned his art functioning beyond the realm of the aesthetic encounter. His visual vocabulary address various dimensions of the human journey, collapsing notions of finitude and eternity, unknowability and familiarity, presence and absence, transcendence and tragedy, spirituality and embodiment. The awe-inspiring depth, frontality, ambiguity, and emotional evocation present in his paintings also inscribe the work with a character of wonder and reverence often associated with religious pilgrimages. A chapel would, indeed, provide the appropriate dwelling for his work.
In the present paper, I argue that the pictorial and architectural programs of the Rothko Chapel allow it to function as a receptacle or vessel for his paintings that require physical dislocation and a participatory engagement from spectators, evocative of sacred pilgrimages. Yet, it is not restrained to specific religious traditions as it was always meant to be a sacred space for interfaith and ecumenical engagement. The chapel, I contend, provides a model for interreligious dialogue and sacred mobility, particularly in a time in which American society has been challenged to confront implicit religious intolerance. In order to support this argument, I will show how the Rothko Chapel offers a model for the integration of architectural space, artistic production, and the diverse bodies of pilgrims. I will rely heavily on the framework of pilgrimage, liminality, and communitas, proposed by Edith and Victor Turner, Simon Coleman and John Elsner's survey on pilgrimage in world religions, followed by an investigation of how the concept of journeying was central to Rothko’s life and career, and finally how the chapel today has become a vessel for interreligious sacred mobility for various faith traditions.
In 1962, while working on a commission for Harvard University, Ethel Schwabacher came to visit fellow artist and abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, in his studio in New York. She reported being awestruck at the site of paintings and conjectured that Rothko’s work should have a museum of their own, to which he replied: “no, a chapel.” Rothko’s statement is a testimony to how he envisioned his art functioning beyond the realm of the aesthetic encounter. His visual vocabulary address various dimensions of the human journey, collapsing notions of finitude and eternity, unknowability and familiarity, presence and absence, transcendence and tragedy, spirituality and embodiment. The awe-inspiring depth, frontality, ambiguity, and emotional evocation present in his paintings also inscribe the work with a character of wonder and reverence often associated with religious pilgrimages. A chapel would, indeed, provide the appropriate dwelling for his work.
In the present paper, I argue that the pictorial and architectural programs of the Rothko Chapel allow it to function as a receptacle or vessel for his paintings that require physical dislocation and a participatory engagement from spectators, evocative of sacred pilgrimages. Yet, it is not restrained to specific religious traditions as it was always meant to be a sacred space for interfaith and ecumenical engagement. The chapel, I contend, provides a model for interreligious dialogue and sacred mobility, particularly in a time in which American society has been challenged to confront implicit religious intolerance. In order to support this argument, I will show how the Rothko Chapel offers a model for the integration of architectural space, artistic production, and the diverse bodies of pilgrims. I will rely heavily on the framework of pilgrimage, liminality, and communitas, proposed by Edith and Victor Turner, Simon Coleman and John Elsner's survey on pilgrimage in world religions, followed by an investigation of how the concept of journeying was central to Rothko’s life and career, and finally how the chapel today has become a vessel for interreligious sacred mobility for various faith traditions.