Sergio Gomez

The Bleeding Border, 2008, Acrylic on Paper/Canvas, 195.58 x 284.48 cm, Collection of the artist; ©️ Sergio Gomez, Courtesy of the artist

Broken Beauty

Commentary by Cecilia González-Andrieu

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Read by Chloë Reddaway

What does it mean to trust in God? Does it mean to stay put and perish, or does it mean to run, seek refuge, and believe God will accompany and see us through a harrowing journey? Displaced persons around the globe must answer this every day. For most, just as for the children in The Bleeding Border, there may be no choice but to trust that ‘the righteous [who] are generous and keep giving’ (Psalm 37:21 NRSV) may be waiting on the other side.

The monumental scale of this work gives the viewer nowhere to retreat to. The life-sized children are running and it is impossible to tell in which direction. Are we joining their dash toward the light-filled door? Will it close before we reach it? Or, instead, are the children running headlong toward us? Will we take them up in our arms and provide the refuge God promises? Will those who hold the power of life and death over these children be among God’s righteous, who even if they have little themselves (v.16) are willing to share it?

The land—so central in this psalm, and promised repeatedly to those who do good and wait for the Lord—is a co-protagonist in this work. Superimposed over the scene and most visible against the night sky, the border between the United States and Mexico is rendered as flesh, an open wound dripping blood onto towns and villages, some real and some imagined, with names like El Diablo (the devil) and El Cielo (heaven). The handwritten text framing the painting shatters any possibility of absolving ourselves from responsibility. These are ‘Someone’s children, anonymous shadows to the rest of us. Thousands of unspoken and ignored inconveniences’. Repeated in a thousand places with a thousand faces, can the God who mends the broken, mend this? How does this story end? (Luiselli 2017: 55).

 

References

Luiselli, Valeria. 2017. Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press)

See full exhibition for Psalm 37

Psalm 37

Revised Standard Version

A Psalm of David.

37Fret not yourself because of the wicked,

be not envious of wrongdoers!

2For they will soon fade like the grass,

and wither like the green herb.

3Trust in the Lord, and do good;

so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.

4Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

6He will bring forth your vindication as the light,

and your right as the noonday.

7Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

8Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9For the wicked shall be cut off;

but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land.

10Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look well at his place, he will not be there.

11But the meek shall possess the land,

and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

12The wicked plots against the righteous,

and gnashes his teeth at him;

13but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his day is coming.

14The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows,

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those who walk uprightly;

15their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their bows shall be broken.

16Better is a little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken;

but the Lord upholds the righteous.

18The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

and their heritage will abide for ever;

19they are not put to shame in evil times,

in the days of famine they have abundance.

20But the wicked perish;

the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures,

they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

21The wicked borrows, and cannot pay back,

but the righteous is generous and gives;

22for those blessed by the Lord shall possess the land,

but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

23The steps of a man are from the Lord,

and he establishes him in whose way he delights;

24though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the Lord is the stay of his hand.

25I have been young, and now am old;

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children begging bread.

26He is ever giving liberally and lending,

and his children become a blessing.

27Depart from evil, and do good;

so shall you abide for ever.

28For the Lord loves justice;

he will not forsake his saints.

The righteous shall be preserved for ever,

but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

29The righteous shall possess the land,

and dwell upon it for ever.

30The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

31The law of his God is in his heart;

his steps do not slip.

32The wicked watches the righteous,

and seeks to slay him.

33The Lord will not abandon him to his power,

or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

34Wait for the Lord, and keep to his way,

and he will exalt you to possess the land;

you will look on the destruction of the wicked.

35I have seen a wicked man overbearing,

and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.

36Again I passed by, and lo, he was no more;

though I sought him, he could not be found.

37Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright,

for there is posterity for the man of peace.

38But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.

39The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

40The Lord helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked, and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

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