‘Painting’ Ruth: A portrait of allusion, text, and loss

To answer the research question – How can I portray Ruth within a contemporary social and cultural context while addressing and disturbing established gallery protocol and challenging the apparent “subject/object” polarity that defines creative composition? – I have taken my lead from three different aspects of Ruth’s story: Ruth’s heroism; Ruth’s declaration of devotion to Naomi; and the Book of Ruth as a set of allusions of family breakage and solidarity in earlier episodes in the House of Israel. I have analogised the practice of stitching to the heroic step-by-step approach Ruth pursues to overcome the difficulties she encounters while seeking the conditions to ensure Naomi’s security and wellbeing. Ruth’s lyrical “poem” in 1.16-17 is used as a paradigm for an examination of personal insight as the first cause of universally appreciated works of art. Finally, in the mise en abyme literary technique of a subtext within the text that some scholars locate within Ruth, I endorsed my decision to unhook the linearity of time to cascade the past into the present. By using these three theoretical frameworks from Ruth, I have created artworks that represent living with loss by ploughing into the past in order to understand the present.