YOU ARE A SOUL

2019, Mixed Media

You are a Soul explores the form of the human soul and its relationship to both the spiritual and physical realms. Dr Duncan McDougall found (inconclusively) in 1921 that the soul weighed approx. 21 grams, suggesting that the spiritual soul could be entwined with the physical body. ‘Soul’ in the Bible is also not separate from the body. Instead, spirit and body combine in the ‘nephesh’ (the Hebrew word for soul). The physical and the spiritual are not separated, instead they are entwined and the human soul resides on the boundaries between the two.

You are a soul aims to visualise this relationship, blurring the lines between two realms that are often perceived as separate. It consists of an anatomical ceramic heart within a veiled space. Approaching the work, the audience sees the heart through the veil, which distorts it, shifting it between solid and gaseous forms. The heart, where the Bible suggests the essence of humanity resides, is vastly oversized and drips red iron oxide. It is so bodily that it has its own physical life, yet within the veil, it is also spirit, shifting between states.