Margaret Adams Parker: “The Arts of Lament”

THE ARTS OF LAMENT

Most especially during Lent, we recall the prominence of lament in Scripture: the psalms of lament; David’s lament for Jonathan; the Lamentations of Jeremiah; Christ’s lament over Jerusalem. These laments bear witness to outrage, sorrow, suffering, fear, desolation. And through these passionate cries, the biblical authors allow us to experience and express—in God’s holy presence—our own stories of brokenness and loss.

The visual arts make these laments visible. In this program we will look at images from many centuries and cultures, discussing the power of visual lament and exploring its spiritual significance: how lament might ultimately serve to console and strengthen, helping to lead us out of dark places into the light.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Margaret (Peggy) Adams Parker is an artist and a theological educator deeply committed—in her teaching and her studio practice—to the visual arts as a means of interpreting Scripture, a stimulus to sight, and an aid to prayer. An adjunct instructor at Virginia Theological Seminary, she is the author, with Ellen F. Davis, of Who Are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth through Image and Text (Westminster John Knox, 2003) and, with Katherine Sonderegger, of Praying the Stations of the Cross: Finding Hope in a Weary Land (Eerdmans, fall 2019).

In her work as a printmaker and sculptor, Parker often treats religious and social justice subjects, and lament is one of her major themes. She has an extensive exhibition record and has completed multiple commissions for churches and church institutions across the country, including Reconciliation for Duke Divinity School and Mary as Prophet for Virginia Theological Seminary.

www.margaretadamsparker.com