Artist in Residence 2016: Ebitenyefa Baralaye – "Bam Bam"

This post concludes my residency and comes at a time when I and so many are considering the need for unity in our culture. For Christians, the understanding of unity resonates deeply in the acknowledgement and dependence on God's sovereignty in election. Not election of a political nature, but His election of those imperfect vessels (ourselves) He has made to be His sons and daughters, His people and the instruments of His glorious work of kingdom building.

As an artist, I constantly orient the worth and purpose of the things that I make according to the values and intentions I choose. The freedom and power in this is in being able to make things that might seem to have a marginal place in the general order around me and give them place. I am able to take things and concepts that could seem incongruous and create their fit within experience and culture. This to me is directly derivative of God's style of creation and calling reflected in Romans 9. The nature of His prerogative doesn't simply emphasize division between what's chosen or not chosen, holy or not holy. God uses (often heavy) contrasting colors to highlight the reality that under His hand all things work together for His glory. It is for Christ's glory that all things and we are united as instruments, artists, neighbors, and citizens of His kingdom.