30.09.20 - CRITICAL STUDIES - Religion in art

In ‘The Book of Black’ by Faye Dowling, the author explores art under three sections: ‘Gods and Monsters’, ‘The Kingdom of Darkness’ and ‘Dark Arts/ Higher Power’. Across all three titles I found many examples of religion in modern art which are subversions of classical religious works, showing a shift from sacred to secular society as people begin to question their faith under the ever-changing pressures on the human morale.


Faye Dowling ‘The Book of Black’ Laurence King Publishing Ltd (2017)


The images that really stood out to me were these untitled photographs from Alexander Binder’s ‘Traum’ collection. The low lighting gives us a different perspective of the symbolic crosses and turns them into something more sinister and threatening, emerging from the blackness. It contradicts the idea of faith bringing enlightenment, and makes me feel like religion has left us in the dark rather than provided us with a guiding light, as if the artist is turning away from faith. 



The horned silhouette is really enigmatic and makes me wonder who the person is, because Binder is clearly referencing the devil, but the rest of the figure looks very mundane, standing with their hands in their pockets and looking on at the view below- which we also can’t see. This faceless devil reminds me of the notion that evil could be hiding in any one of us. The composition with the figure raised upon a hill subverts the idea of angels watching us from above and the devil burning below - in this photograph I feel like the unholy has more power.


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