Abide in Me, as I Abide in You

By Janina Aza Karpinska

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From the artist:
Abide in Me, As I Abide in You is actually a teeny-tiny detail from a much, much larger piece, a reflection on how we are called to allow Christ to live in us – as seen in the figure of the knight, whose face is appears around the area of Christ's heart, looking up. There is some paper-weaving seen here, where two pictures are woven together to make a new cohesive whole – another reflection of our lives being woven together with Christ's.

The incarnation of my icon-making came about when I was invited to participate in an exhibition, in 2004, held in a decommissioned church on the theme of Icons – other members of the Red Hen Collective chose to work with such things as icons of the silver screen, or computer icons; since I was the offspring of Polish Catholic and Russian Orthodox parents, I chose to focus on icons of devotion.

I worked on panels of wood found in the street – I liked the idea of using 'rubbish', things that were rejected, deemed useless, in an act of creative redemption, mirroring the life of Faith. Similarly, I worked with torn discarded magazines, out-of-date auction catalogues – anything I could get my hands on! At first, I was surrounded by tiny scraps – like jigsaw pieces – yet somehow my hand would know where to place a tiny scrap – just so. I felt like a helpful, willing assistant watching the Master at work. So much so, that I found I could not stop admiring my work!

Originally, the pieces I worked on were very big, taking weeks to complete. The process gradually became smaller and a lot quicker as I trusted my hands to do the work: instead of being surrounded by innumerable scraps, I would just tear-and-go! I marvelled at how it all came about; I really didn't know what I was doing when I began.

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Janina Aza Karpinska is a multi-disciplinary artist–poet from the south coast of England. Poetry informs her collage-making with an eye for the 'chime' of pattern, motif and colour; the rhythm and flow of line. Working quickly and intuitively, with an innate sense of order, she re-configures chaos and brokenness to make a new, cohesive whole as an act of creative redemption. Her work has appeared in Bath House Journal; Young Ravens Literary Review; Grim & Gilded; The Empty Mirror; 3 Elements Review; Heart of Flesh and Antler Velvet, among others.