artwork culture hope Jubilee 2025 Pilgrims of Hope
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February 25, 2025
Image by Tabitha Turner.
HOPE does not disappoint us because
God’s love has been
Poured into our hearts
Through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:5)

From 15-18 February, as part of the Jubilee year celebration, we were invited to celebrate Artists, those who nurture them and see the beauty of our world’s different cultures.

The 2000 and 2025 Church Jubilee logos.

The last Jubilee year was in 2000. The logo depicted five doves symbolising the continents of our Earth. Artists throughout the world were invited to submit a painting depicting Jesus Christ. Images came from the ends of the Earth and 1,678 representations of Jesus Christ arrived! Jesus of the People by Janet McKenzie was declared first prize.

We now, 25 years later, experience Jubilee Year 2025 with the theme being Pilgrims of Hope.

Let us enjoy some artists simply by contemplating their work and wondering what HOPE they offer us…

Let us begin with popular artist Vincent Van Gogh who says:

It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper understanding. If we study Japanese art we see an artist who is wise, philosophical and intelligent who spends his time how? He studies a single blade of grass but his blade of grass leads him to draw the plant and then the Season, the wide aspects of the countryside, the animals then humans. I have a terrible need…shall I say the word? …of religion. Then I go out at night and paint the stars.

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night 1889 – oil on canvas, via Wikimedia Commons.

Marc Chagall

Marc was a Russian Jew, and he speaks as an artist:

If a painter is a Jew and paints life, how is he to keep Jewish elements out of his work! But if he is a good painter, his paintings will contain a great deal more. The Jewish content will be there, of course, but his art will aim at universal relevance.

Marc Chagall, White Crucifixion 1938 – oil on canvas via www.MarcChagall.net

  • What do you see of ‘Universal Relevance’ in the painting?
  • Does a Lament Psalm come to mind?
  • Where do you see HOPE?

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago.

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago was exhibited in the Melbourne Exhibition building. This large triangular open table is set with thirty-nine place settings, thirteen on each side (commemorating a goddess, an historic person and an important woman).

There are 999 other women, whose names are inserted on the tiled heritage floor. Wherever this work in honour of women is exhibited an invitation is extended to include a triangular fabric design, symbolising significant women of the local area. This is then included in a huge wall-hanging, which will travel with future exhibitions.


Monogram of the Sisters of Saint Joseph worn by St Mary MacKillop, one of the significant women of Australia.

The Monogram, now part of this hanging, was sewn by Julie Davey and Jeanette Cahir, nieces of Sr Agnes Nunn rsj.

Let’s join in prayer…

A Common Prayer by cartoon artist Michael Leunig.

Therese Quinn rsj