God « Blesse »

God « Blesse » was created in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, as an attempt to understand and make sense of what seemed incomprehensible. Without seeking to portray the horror, the work imagines the distinct energies that may have come together aboard one of the planes: thoughts, memories, emotions, inner stirrings, and connections to loved ones.

A dark form evokes an airplane, a bird, and a cross, bringing together opposing meanings: flight and confinement, inner freedom and the structures that may restrict it. At its centre, the colours and organic forms retain their own movements, as though no shared reality could entirely erase each person’s singularity. They may suggest wings, foliage, profiles, gazes, small creatures, or presences gathered closely together. Each viewer is free to recognize something different.

Sienna-coloured forms extend beyond one of the wings, as though what was unfolding within could not remain contained. Around them, bluish lines and grids recall the glass façades of the buildings. The black form gradually softens into blue and leads toward a small bird that appeared intuitively, then was deliberately preserved and brought into the light. It opens a space for peace, passage, and hope, evoking a sense of inner freedom that may endure even in the face of the inevitable.

Created with watercolour and acrylic on rice paper mounted on watercolour paper, the work allows the pigments to penetrate the fibres in some areas while remaining more freely on the surface in others. Its transparencies, textures, and irregular edges reveal both fragility and resistance.

The title God « Blesse » transforms the familiar expression God bless through the French verb blesse, meaning “wounds” or “hurts.” Suspended between blessing and hurt, it opens a reflection on faith, human interpretation, and the coexistence of different ways of thinking. Presented in three orientations, the work continually renews the dialogue among the cross, the airplane, and the bird. It was created as part of the same artistic impulse as Rédemption (Redemption).