Lamentation and Hope

lamentation: the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping
hope: to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment

For me this week has been filled with lamentation…and hope. Attending a gathering of 1,000+ people from around the world where we sought a way forward together in a common mission, I experienced first hand the complexity and messiness of living in community in the midst of global diversity.

I have lamented the unintentional and sometimes intentional pain inflicted upon one another in our conversation and actions. At the same time I have held fierce hope of an enriching life lived together under the same tent. It seems to me that lamentation without hope leads to despair, and hope without lamentation is nothing more than superficial optimism.

My experience of lamentation/hope has led to the creation of the photographic images below. They are portals into my experience. They are what we fine art photographers call composites. Each portal is comprised of two photographs: one taken of the scratched, marred cement floor on which the conference members sat at round tables. Pictographs of lamentation. The other, a photograph of the side of a tissue box. Tissues for me hold comforting, salving propensities. Catching our tears, they point us toward the hope embodied in the words of Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” These images hold my lamentation and hope.

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