McCormick Creates a Place for Reflection on Race and Social Justice
12-01-2021
A work of public art has been added to McCormick’s campus, giving the seminary and surrounding communities a place for spiritual reflection on race and social justice.
“People are looking for quiet spaces right now because we have gone through a lot of traumas over the past two years,” said Priscilla Rodriquez, MAM ’16. “We all need time to reflect and get in touch with our souls...with our own selves.”
Unveiled in October, Troubling the Waters, a work of public art that can be viewed from both inside and outside the seminary, is that kind of space. For those who long for justice, it is a creative response to an ancient prophet’s longing to see “justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” The mural is the second phase of a two-part project that was funded by a grant awarded to Rodriquez from the Foundations of Christian Leadership through Leadership Education at Duke Divinity. Rodriquez received the award for her proposal, Art of Spirituality: Stories of Racism and Social Justice Amidst Chicago’s Public Art of Murals/Mosaics.
“First, I wanted to create a prayer guide and gather links to murals* in the Chicago area where people can turn public art places into sacred spaces for praying or listening to the musings of their heart,” says Rodriquez. “Then I wanted to see the creation of a work of public art within the seminary that would be a centering point…that would speak theologically to people as they entered the building.” The prayer guide and links to Chicago public art sites can be used to guide a time of reflection in-person or online.
In the spring of this year, Rodriquez, who serves the seminary as coordinator for McCormick’s Centers, finished compiling the list of public art locations throughout Chicago. Along with Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz, assistant professor of Homiletics, she also produced the prayer guide that offers a way to spiritually engage with works of public art.
Over the summer, working in collaboration with Creation Lab, an arts and creativity incubator, four McCormick artists – Shawna Bowman, M.Div. ’09; Katherine Chilcote, M.Div. ’21; Sergio Centeno, M.Div.’14; and Immanuel Karunakaran, MTS ’20 –designed and created McCormick’s mural that explores movements from mourning to joy and from lament to liberation.
“I’m so thankful to the artists who took the time to ponder biblical stories...imagine what justice and antiracism looks like…consider how water can have a role in both liberation and destruction… or grapple with concepts of independence and freedom that also displaced or enslaved people,” says Rodriquez. “There is a lot of complexity and subtleties to their work. I believe that each time we walk by the mural it will invite us to stop, reflect, and use our imaginations to think about how we can move the work of social justice forward.”
Priscilla Rodriquez and Sergio Centeno
Shawna Bowman and Immanuel Karunakaran
Katherine Chilcote
*Find the prayer guide and list of Chicago’s public works of art here.