In search of a visual language

By Jenna Smith and ChristianWeek | September 15, 2008

"People don't understand art." I hear this complaint regularly from my artist friends."

To be fair, most people do understand some art. We can all look at Michealangelo's David and get it. It's a work of genius. Most of us see that. It's just that today's western culture doesn't think through images. We absorb them, we are saturated by them, but we don't really learn through them.

Most images—and this includes the arts—do not have the same level of depth and significance that they once had. This is probably a natural consequence of the world having transitioned its visual and oral communications into written ones. Blame the printing press if you must. Add to that mass media and publicity, and you've got an situation where a picture is not only is void of uniqueness, but a downright nuisance.

Images and spirituality, for many Christians, do not seem to matter. This is especially true for Protestants, who did away with visual references during the Reformation: "Sola Scriptura"—only the Scriptures mattered.

But images should matter in our spirituality and in life. Consider this: some of Hitler's best propaganda was through his use of images. The brilliant filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl who worked for Hitler was tried for war crimes because of the effectiveness of her use of imagery.

And like it or not, the media has created a whole world of visual symbols, many of which we are not even aware of. A waif-like model in skin-tight jeans with her legs spread open can only communicate one thing. Images are powerful stuff. They can be used to warp the mind.

On the flip side, sculptures and paintings seem to hold less weight. We have lost the fine art of symbols. Take a seashell for instance. If we see one today, either in real life or on a poster, we might think of the beach. But if you were an early Christian you would have seen it on a grave and understood it meant resurrection, for the seashell survives the animal just as the soul survives the body.

If you lived in the 11th century and saw a church decorated with shells, you knew it was a resting spot on the pilgrimage road from St. Jacques in France to Compostella in Spain. It was also used as a symbol for paradise and femininity.

What was interesting about these historical periods was not only the layers of stories and messages that could be communicated without speaking a word, but that almost anything in the natural world could be used as a reference or a compass to point to the Creator.

Modern Christianity has lost its relationship to visual expression, although it has gained other things, not the least of which is easy access to the Bible. (I should say this is true about Protestantism. Orthodoxy is still hugely involved in visual expression.)

Without wallowing in nostalgia, I think it fair to say we do not have the visual language we once did.

Though there are many excellent artists working to remedy this situation, the language of art is not universally understood, taught or accepted. Maybe this is why so many people in Christian communities do not seem to understand or appreciate the works of their fellow artists. If we are searching for a visual language, we must do so by acknowledging that images have a role to play in our lives and in our spirituality.