Madness

madness     week of kindness     darkbible     dcarter

the dark bible

The greatest story ever retold.

Poetic reinterpretation of stories tells us more about ourselves.

coverA simple Google search will reveal another Dark Bible. On the nobeliefs.com website, research delves into troubling atrocities, pornography and questionable moral verses in the King James version of the Bible.

My work is a personal investigation unrelated to this research project. Mine is a project I decided to pursue as an independent artist curious about the Greatest Story Ever Told. The story told in the four gospels of Testament.

I was drawn to the importance of this cornerstone of western culture. I am intrigued by the everyday quality of many of the story elements. People traveled, got married, had fights, danced, cleaned places and ate meals. In some ways it is a recording of the behaviors of a period in time. It is also a dramatic story that includes conspiracies, temptation, passion, illegitimate love, betrayal, denials, and death.

To see this on a human scale, my idea was to create works that reflect these everyday narrative elements. I intentionally omitted miracles and sermons and focused on the emotional exchanges between the people portrayed.

In my video version of "the Dark Bible", I have included dialogue that is an interpretation of actual dialogue included in the four gospel. In the gospel, conversations are often referenced, but occasionally there are actual quotes from conversations. As best I can see, the Virgin Mary only said "They have no Wine". At least this is her only quote.

aurora

Showing of the Dark Bible at the 2012 Aurora Festival