Mira Cantor: Under Siege

Artist Statement
“We are here for this – to make mistakes and correct ourselves, to stand the blows and hand them out. We must never feel disarmed: nature is immense and complex, but it is not impermeable to the intelligence; we must circle around it, pierce and probe it, look for the opening or make it. In order for the wheel to turn, for life to be lived, impurities are needed…we are not the same, which gives rise to changes, in other words, life.”
—annotated from “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levi
In my Renaissance class, in the late 60’s, we spent a lot of time on Masaccio, and throughout my life his painting, “The Expulsion,” continues to surface. Presently, it seems more relevant as a continued reminder of the human condition. At the time, it seemed draconian to me to expel them from the garden for the trivial act of tasting the fruit of an apple. They should have been given another chance to redeem themselves and apologize for their deviation. But the myth seems relevant. From the beginning humanity was always under siege and the garden was just a make-believe world where man found out what it felt like to be expelled, evicted without empathy, fearing the unknown.

We were condemned from the beginning and continue to feel under siege, running this way and that to find a place to belong; a search for meaning. Our bodies, and our minds, too, are bombarded with deleterious effects from food and the environment, as well as the psychological trauma of unforeseen events. Is this our destiny, to cope, and search for the garden that will never materialize? Adam and Eve walk out of the garden in search of another, through an obstacle course of trials and tribulations. There is a dilemma here: an approach-avoidance conflict. They need to leave the garden but hesitate as they walk out of the canvas. The angst in their bodies and faces is palpable.

We grieve as do they, knowing they must stand on their own two feet and handle the change. Painful as it may be, they are brave and courageous and have the ability to ask questions. What the f—is going on? Where are we going? Fearing the unknown they are under siege. Death would be the release of dread, fear, anxiety, abuse, tension, rejection and shame. However, they somehow manage to move on, out of the canvas, into the ambiguous state of the unknown, given hope to dispel the grief.