A Hard Pill To swallow

 “It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out the mouth, this defiles the person.” – Matthew 15:11. A Hard Pill to Swallow is an installation piece comprised of concrete and engraving qualities. The theme of legalism will be explored by addressing legalism in the church by righteous means. “Legalism is an attempt to gain favour with God or to impress our fellow man by doing certain things or avoiding other things, without regard to the condition of one’s heart before God”. At its root legalism is the sin of pride, the legalist thinks he is able to commend himself to God by his own good deeds. Each time the condition of external is looked at and not the heart neglecting to see the corruption of his own heart. Therefore, legalism is a denial of the human depravity and venerates human ability and such is an opposition to The Gospel of God’s grace. This is done by using concrete and engraving to convey this confrontation. The concrete is an imitation of stone and its steadfastness, withstanding storms and changes in time, making it symbol of strength, stability and faith. Yet because of concretes association with industrialisation and modernity it contrasts sharply with traditional re ligious art forms. This juxtaposition symbolises the tension between the doctrine of legalism in contemporary life and the true knowledge and pursuit of God and spiritual values. The concrete has been casted into stone tablets resembling painkiller pills (tablet), this is re-interpretation of the traditional stone ‘tablet’ and represents the com modification of faith and treating it as prescription medication where there is strict emphasis on rules and regulat ing the achievement of salvation and spiritual growth. Concrete’s raw, unrefined, heavy characteristics add further symbolism to the pills as their weight evokes a sense of groundedness and religious weight. Furthermore, the pills represent the use of painkillers as a drug to relieve pain from the body but not kill pathogens similar to legalistic practices There are inscriptions in two of the concrete tablets, the inscriptions in the tablets are repetitions of Christ’s sharp rebukes to the Pharisees inscribed both in English and in Greek (Matthew 15:11 and Matthew 23:27). These in scriptions serve as a direct link to Christian doctrine and narratives. Aligning with St. John Paul II’s assertion that art must communicate spiritual truths effectively. Alongside this the inscribed tablets act as modern-day “bibles of the poor”, making deeper theological and spiritual concepts accessible to a broader audience, much like medieval art did for illiterate populations. Both the inscriptions and the concrete complement each other bringing emphasis to the seriousness and weight to the matter. The artwork invites viewer interaction such as touching or moving the pills as well as confronting personal en gagement with faith. Where the pills have been placed and the way in which they have been placed symbolises the obstruction of legalism to biblical truth and genuine faith in the way it obstructs viewers by forcing them to parade around the work.