Kafka and the Bible

Artist Statement

I came to artistically address the Bible through my interest in the writings of Franz Kafka, many of whose parables reinterpret biblical stories. Kafka explains the world in a way that ameliorates my normal confusion about it. As his parables began to enter my work, I experienced a growing fascination with the power of the original biblical stories, and the power of the Bible itself in the West.

As someone without faith, I understand the desire for it, but not the act itself. Though I feel great wonder and awe in response to nature and the arts, my spiritual life centers on visual art. It is where I find the most meaning and deepest sense of safety, and where I perform devotional practices. When my interest in Kafka opened up a desire to read the Bible from Genesis through Revelations, I felt that I needed a spiritual ritual to do so. That led to the last piece in this portfolio, Representation for a Ritual of Unease.