Zara Worth

Think of a door (temptation/redemption), 2022, LED lighting and imitation gold leaf on polythene, Dimensions variable; Image courtesy of the artist.

Moral Uncertainty

Commentary by Zara Worth

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In my installation Think of a door (temptation/redemption) forms and motifs borrowed from social media and smartphone designs are tangled up with elements drawn from religious artworks and architecture. The installation comprises two LED sculptures and a large gilded pictorial element.

The pictorial element of the installation is gilded on both sides, each side’s imagery correlating to either the theme of temptation or redemption. For example, the ‘temptation’ side features a reference to Auguste Rodin’s Gates of Hell (modelled 1880–1917, cast 1926–28), while the ‘redemption’ side includes forms borrowed from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise (1425–52). These artistic precedents are themselves representative of the wide and narrow gates described in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. However, because the ground of the installation’s pictorial element (on which these forms from Rodin’s and Ghiberti’s artworks are gilded) is clear polythene, the gates of hell and paradise appear knotted together. They are additionally muddled up with numerous references to digital and divine images whose entanglement renders them temporarily morally ambiguous.

The LED sculptures take forms that reference painted frames from religious icons and smartphone bezels and then nest them within one another like matryoshka (Russian dolls). These glowing frames are scaled-up to embody the icon and smartphone’s shared metaphorical status as doorways to immaterial realms. Thanks to the similarity of their shapes, it is impossible without prior knowledge to distinguish which of the coloured frames reference smartphones and which are drawn from religious artworks.

The wide and narrow gates of Luke’s and Matthew’s Gospels, which at face value correlate to predefined ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways of living, may not categorize moral decisions as simply as might be assumed. In Luke, we are warned that many, ‘will try to enter and will not be able to’ (13:24), leading to anger and confusion from those denied the entry to the kingdom that they expected. Such uncertainty as to what a threshold might represent is echoed by the composition of Think of a door (temptation/redemption)—speaking to the moral complexity often inherent in decision-making in modern life.

See full exhibition for Matthew 7:13–14, 22–23; Luke 13:22–30

Matthew 7:13–14, 22–23; Luke 13:22–30

Revised Standard Version

Matthew 7

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’

Luke 13

22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24“Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!’ 28There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. 29And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”