Vater, Sohn und Heiliger Geist

Three symbols: a burning bush, a sun and a tongue of flame. Beneath, a series of German words: a register of WWII concentration camps, a litany of German euphemisms for the genocidal destruction of the European Jewry and the label directions from a Zyklon-B canister of cyanide. A relationship is suggested between the text and image, between Trinitarian fire iconography and the Holocaust. It is perhaps in dialogue with events and ideas that challenge rather than affirm a comfortable faith that the static signs of Christianity can be transformed into rich symbols, pregnant with nuance. In both my art and my scholarly work I like to ask questions about the way in which symbols form, reinforce or challenge the identity of a community, particularly the way in which artists can intensify or open up the possibilities of a religious symbol rather pin a meaning down on it.

Chris Cuthill serves as Art Chair at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, where he teaches courses in Art Theory, Art History and Popular Culture. Chris finished a Masters degree in Philosophical Aesthetics in 1999 at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. His thesis, entitled Mutilated Music: Towards an After Auschwitz Aesthetic, explored the philosophical and ethical limitations of artistic representations of the Holocaust.

He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam with research focused on the topic of suffering and art. He has worked professionally in the theatre, as a graphic artist and as an art curator. A practicing artist, Chris has exhibited work in Canada, the United States and Europe; his favoured media include fabric, pen and ink and watercolour.

Chris lives in downtown Hamilton with his wife Dawn, two children and a chubby beagle.

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