Living Artists, Issue I: Religion & Spirituality

Religion and the spiritual have existed in the lives of human beings for millennia. Often weaved into society and how we live, they have formed inspiration for various activities in the arts, including music, dance, literature and visual art. Contemporary views of religion and spirituality often aim to differentiate between religion as an institutional structure and spirituality as a personal exploration of the self. For some, these two things are intrinsically connected but for others, they are divorced from each other with religion playing no part in a person’s life, but they are able to connect to a sense of the soul and the earth. Art in all its forms has always, on some level, been linked to religion and spirituality, whether that be the creation of sculptural icons, religious texts, a study of the self, the creation of places of worship, automatic writing, spirit- ualism, or a fascination with the occult and its connections to spirits and nature. Artists are often preoccupied with questions of mortality and existentialism, as well as exploring their inner psyche. In the current climate where Coronavirus has spread globally and our lives have shut down, perhaps now more than ever, we have the opportunity to contemplate the open questions of our existence. In this issue, we are able to present a range of individual and personal interpretations of the theme, spanning from personal experiences to reflections on works by other artists. These pieces tackle issues such as religion and queer- ness, the breakdown of a relationship and per- formance as an act of devotion. With the curation of these individual works, we hope that readers will reflect on their own attitudes and relationship to faith and spirituality. https://www.livingartistsmag.com/uploads/b/bea72b50-d743-11ea-950c-d345ade2eade/2c5ad070-da75-11eb-81e2-af91683828dc.pdf