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Want to see me on cable? Click here for the latest schedule of "Hooked." Queens Council of the Arts sponsors the half-hour artSpy shows on QPTV.
NEW PAINTINGS



Remember?

do you remember the day we discovered the beach
remember that beautiful day we nearly drowned?

The two of you held your arms and elbows crooked around my neck
I stood up to my neck in ocean up to my chin in ocean my lower lip tasting salt
I was the only one who felt the undertow tugging pulling us inch by inch
over our heads and out to sea

And both of you oblivious to any danger.
two sets of small legs hooked around my hips two sets of arms around my neck
and a sudden word of alarm or a moment of panic
and arms would be bony nooses for my throat
legs would thrash and we’d be gulping sudden salt water.


how easy to be doomed the lifeguard just an orange dot on the sand.


so I fought the danger by standing on tip toe
then on tippy toes
then on gently bouncing tippy tip toes the saltiness buoying us while the ocean tugged at us
and I gently bounced us inch by inch by inch to safety.


I held my breath for ten years before I told you
exhaling at last to tell you girls of the danger that day and our tippy toe bounce to safety

but even then I couldn’t bear to tell you of our present danger
you girls still oblivious to an undertow that was tugging tugging to take us out over our heads
while I continued to hold you hold you
while I bounced us on tippy toes still buoyant don’t panic
while I held you and looked for the day’s grace
until the day you could touch your own toe to sand and use the salt against the undertow and gently bounce yourselves back to safety.


© Nancy Rakoczy. All Rights Reserved.
Salvation Offered to the Racist by a Native American Saint and Angels, 2008, 20" x 30" acrylic and cut paper on acid free illustration board
Obverse Living Room II (with TV), 2008; 30" x 40" acrylic and cut paper on acid free illustration board


at the Meat Space GalleryWork in Progress


The shroud is 12" x 32' and made of hand knit plastic, yarn, beads and gold thread. The plastic strips are from shredded dry cleaner bags, and symbolize the mundane nature of our shrouds, while the gold thread is chosen for those things in our lives woven with the worthless that makes our personal, spiritual shrouds so difficult to give up. I chose to combine the materials with knitting for its feminine connotations. I deliberately chose to make an object that isn't beautiful, as a reflection of the misunderstandings we often have about ourselves. Look closely and notice the wrapping is far from perfect: there are holes. This reflects the holes in our own logic with which we create our personal shrouds.

There are different facets to this piece. On one hand, it is a sacred object, since it is a tool that has been used in rituals, and like other sacred tools, in performance and healings. Its primary purpose is not to sit in a gallery, but to be used.The shroud has a shamanistic character in thatit evokes a discarded snake skin, rather than to be part of a traditional liturgy.

The Shroud: Unwrapping Lazarus: is used as part of a unique
and original retreat for Christians of all ages. The retreat focuses on the experience of how we are like the Lazarus of John's gospel. Participants share how they learned to ask to be "unwrapped," untied, and released from those things that constrict our inner freedom. Jesus said, "Lazarus, come out," and to his friends,
"untie him.” We are all Lazarus. Like him, we are that special friend of Christ. Like Lazarus, we are in need to be called out, unwrapped, untied and released from what constricts and binds our spirits.
It is about the grace and freedom we gain when we respond
to the voice of the Lord.

The shroud is a part of a new feminist spirituality which seeks to create healing rituals where there are none. Feminist spirituality asserts that abstract thought and the rational mind are only one means of seeking and understanding God. It seeks to correct this imbalance by paying "attention to difference and diversity in women's experience" (Rakoczy 233). It is our very particular experiences and perspectives as women that have often been neglected.In order to flourish and live the abundant life that Christ promised, we often have had to be inventive and break new ground. "Women's rituals are distinctive in their use of the body, affectivity, creativity and the arts" (245). The shroud from Unwrapping Lazarus is meant to be used
to connect and heal, using the intuitive means within ourselves, others and God's grace.

Works Cited
Rakoczy, S. "Creating Space for Faith to Flourish." Intersections of Feminist Christology and Ecclesiology. Leuven: Liturgisch Instituut,
QL 86 (2005): 232-243.
see a sample program for Unwrapping Lazarus

Care to comment? Visit my blog at http://apps.nancyrakoczy.com/Blog

All images and writings are © of Nancy Rakoczy.

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Nancy Rakoczy has a MA from Hunter College in English and a BFA from Pratt Institute. Her ongoing education includes advanced poetry workshops at the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y. Her poetry has been published by Harlin Jacque Publications, The National Catholic Reporter, Olivetree Review, Perspectives and can be found at:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_26_40/ai_n6029422
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ology/perspectives.shtml,
http://www.lindamichellebaron.com/rakoczy/index.html

She recently participated in ArtSpy's "Hooked," hosted by the Queens Council of the Arts and QPTV. She exhibited her work most recently at the Queens Museum's, Decompression, the Meat Space Gallery in L.I.C., NY, as part of the Queens Council of the Arts, Project Diversity, the Skylight Gallery in Brooklyn, and the Master Arts Gallery in Manhattan. She lives in Queens.

Want to see me on cable? Click here for the latest schedule of "Hooked." Queens Council of the Arts sponsors the half-hour artSpy shows on QPTV.

www.teacherease.com