Pages from an Illuminated Gospel. Ethiopia, Highland Region. 1300s.
This illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels was created in the late fourteenth to early fifteenth century at an Ethiopian monastic center. Its full-page paintings on vellum depict New Testament scenes from the life of Christ and portraits of the evangelists. The text is in Ge'ez, the classical Ethiopian language. Typical of Ethiopian painting, the imagery is two-dimensional and linear. Heads are seen frontally; bodies are often in profile. The artist abbreviated the facial features and treated the human form as a columnar mass, articulated in bold black and red lines.
In the fourth century A.D., the Ethiopian king Ezana converted to Christianity. Christianity became the official religion of the state whose legacy endured in various forms until the twentieth century. Around the time this manuscript was made, Ethiopia’s Christian kingdom expanded its influence. Monastic centers became increasingly important outposts of state power. They were also the chief sites of Christian art production. During the sixteenth century, Islamic incursions devastated the region, and most Christian Ethiopian art that predates the seventeenth century was destroyed. This illuminated gospel is a rare survival. -Met
Tomorrow I’ll be hosting a Dream-In at Chop Suey Books. All day I’ll be writing & collecting dreams to make a zine called The Big Book of Richmond Dreams.
To include your dreams in the zine, message me or reply to this post with a brief (up to 300 words) narrative of a dream you’ve had & your name.
Then at 7pm we’ll have a reading from The Big Book of Richmond Dreams at Chop Suey. It’ll be an open reading of dreams from the zine & other dream-related writings, featuring Robert Cataldo, Allison Titus, Joe Cates, me, & more.
Send me your dreams! Hit me up if you’re in Richmond & would like to read some dreams!
In DC I’m reading at 3pm Sun afternoon at the DC Arts Center (2438 18th St NW) alongside Danielle Evannou, Temim Fruchter, & Angelique Palmer. www.facebook.com/events/1776406882605884
Also, I’ve made a little chapbook, Thirty Dreams, which consists of thirty dreams from the June dream deliveries. If that is something you might want you can order it here: dreamdeliveryervice.tumblr.com/post/150230884100
THIS MONTH’s SPD HANDPICKED is all about LOCATION - The Wine Dark Sea by Mathias Svalina traps us in a crawlspace of a recurring title - The Wine Dark Sea. With every poem pointing to this sea as a referent we have to ask ourselves - where is it? Is it more than a feeling? Either way, we’re already drenched.
