Art: Photography by Sasan Golbostani, @sasan_golbostani
THE CHAPEL AT LA CONQUISTADORA
Santa Fe, NM:
Terrifying crucifixion statue: skinny Jesus, bloody, sliced up, flesh hanging from the open wounds, head tilted slightly to the right, mouth hanging open, eyes glassy. Hands and feet nailed to the black cross, more blood, and beneath the crown of thorns, some very lifelike hair. The scene reads like the proto-photographic fraction of a moment just before death. His skin an indescribable, putrid color. The true face of horror smiles in the conqueror’s chapel.
On the wall opposite the crucifixion, a large oil painting of Christ, lying down inside the hollow of a tree stump. There was also a reliquary with the bone fragments of various saints, and a piece of the cross Christ was crucified on (itself fashioned as the inlay of a golden cross). It’s hard not to see the madness of civilization, from the Chapel of La Conquistadora to the Pizza Hut and Dillards around the corner from the church.
Poor bastard hanging on the cross, I think, as I’m idling at the stoplight. The worst horror I can imagine is Jesus Christ being murdered on the cross for no good reason, just an unlucky guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.
About the author:
Georg Koszulinski has been making films and videos since 1999. His award-winning works have been presented at hundreds of universities and film festivals around the world, most recently at the Atlanta Film Festival, San Francisco DocFest, and Experiments in Cinema. Many of his films are also available through Fandor. His personal essays and poetry have recently been published in Gold Man Review, Blue Collar Review, and forthcoming in Blotterature Literary Magazine. His current documentary project, White Ravens: A Legacy of Resistance (forthcoming) focuses on the Haida Nation and the cultural resurgence taking place on their islands of Haida Gwaii. Georg is an Assistant Professor of Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he teaches filmmaking.
Art: Photography by Sasan Golbostani, @sasan_golbostani.
In the artist’s words:
My artistic activity is in the field of Persian Calligraphy and I started it in 1986.