This piece was an interesting challenge for me. I wanted to incorporate some elements of iconography into my blackwork style, and the figure of John The Baptist appeared to me as a natural way of exploring this idea. I have been considering the significance of baptism as a ritual, and during the summer I spend a great deal of my free time exploring and swimming in the rivers of the Klamath mountain ranges. Undeniably in my depiction I am far removed from anything traditional; I wanted to portray John not only as a Christian saint, but also as an icon of the powers of nature manifest – particularly the power of water and the rivers. I also wished to show a connection between Christian and Brahmanic symbology. To these ends I have incorporated into the piece several themes from different world traditions.
While I study myriad religious texts and draw my own interpretations from them, I am not an expert in any of the faiths whose symbols I presume to play with in my art. Rather I approach symbolism from my own personal understanding of the divine. It is my hope that all of my art may serve in some small way the growth of love and the doing of good in the world, for all beings.
