Poetry and Paintings Promote Peace

"Nude Truths," the newest art gallery in the EMU library, presents an interesting juxtaposition of art and text that seems to portray one's journey through faith while wrestling specifically with issues of peace and justice. The exhibit both provides an aesthetically pleasing experience and provokes thought; it is well worth attending.

"Nude Truths," which opened this past Sunday, presents Norwegian Kristi Ylvisaker's paintings, which are inspired by the writings of her sister Mary Ylvisaker Nilsen of Iowa and Denise Levertov, a deceased poet from England.

Beginning with "My Balloon," the viewer is met with imagery that suggests the innocence one finds as a child viewing religion with few questions and few concrete answers. As one continues on to the next few paintings, such as "A Cocoon," one is met with what seems to be a sense of foreboding as the artwork suggests the beginning of questioning, the temptation to simply ignore questions, and the urge to remain stagnant in faith. However, the artists implore the observer to go deeper as he or she moves on to the next paintings, which have titles like "Forests" and "Malicious Memory".

In this section of the gallery, the paintings and text point to the importance of learning and growing through the pain that comes with memory and looking into the past. They appear to propose the idea that even the strongest mind has unanswered questions and buried memories. Whether these questions and memories are ignored or confronted, they lead one down an uneasy path.

This path continues and the questions are confronted in the next few paintings, with titles such as "Day's Terror" and "Catastrophes." In this portion of the gallery, the paintings darken significantly in message, mood, and color. These paintings convey the importance of the darker sides of life, such as pain and death, in the struggle toward strong faith. In addition, these paintings seem to have a more prominent message toward religion as it relates to twenty-first century life in a world torn by war and terror. One painting, containing the text "each day's terror, almost a form of boredom", a quote by Levertov, is expanded upon by Nilsen, who writes, "First [war] horrifies, then it tantalizes, then it dulls, and we long for new horrors to jolt us back to life. That is the terrifying terror of terrors." From this, the paintings turn toward questions of peace and war, questions of why so war, rather than peace, is so often the popular choice. Here, the paintings put forward the ideas that perhaps humans use war to give meaning to life and to give reason for conviction and suggest that peace "rarely provides" this in a concrete way.

Throughout the next couple of paintings, the themes of the paintings move toward how to answer one's questions. They seem to stress the importance of an open mind above all else, with text such as "we reach out for the idea, the image, the inspiration that comes from somewhere and changes everything. But we cannot pluck with clenched hand" and, "the brooding Spirit works tirelessly, nudging us toward the voice, the word, the touch we need, then forcing the choice-to be attentive or to ignore." From this point onward, the idea of peace is revisited, and with it, the idea of hope intermingled with mystery. One painting suggests that peace is not dull, as proposed in an earlier painting, but rather is bursting with the energy of creation and "compassion, creation, and collaboration." With this sense of peace in mind, the final paintings focus on the hope that comes with peace: hope for the unknown, filled with mystery, but hope nonetheless. Finally, when this hope is discovered, the last painting reveals the final product of the journey-awe.

The exhibit runs through March 1 and is on the third floor of the EMU library in the Hartzler Library Gallery.