A Contemplation of Place

Welcome to The Spirit Within, which began in a 2006 meeting with artists of the Daly River community in the Northern Territory of Australia. Anticipated as one of the first exhibitions in the Manresa Gallery, the project grew to explore correspondences with the Native American art community.

In the late 19th Century incessant yearly floods in Daly River caused numerous relocations of the short-lived Catholic Mission there before it was judged unworkable and the Jesuit missionaries departed. Longer tribal connections with Jesuits can be found in the tribal histories of two of the Native American artists participating in the show – the Yaqui in Scottsdale (Arizona) and the Pine Ridge Lakota in South Dakota.  In 2011 the Daly River community was fully evacuated twice.  Colleen Cutschall renders a parallel North American experience in her new work, Muddy Waters (2011), about the recent flooding of the Assiniboine River.

The concept of dadirri or “spirit within” was enhanced by the Australian artist Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann as a meditative path issuing forth in creativity.  Her Stations of the Cross (2006) demonstrate a path fraught with conflict and suffering but one that can be borne compassionately, as a common spirit moves from within (Romans 8:26).  Human roots in nature and a call for moral focus are seen in Frank LaPena’s We Are All Sacred (2001) and Judith Lowry’s Obedient Wives (2001).  L. Frank’s Almost (ca. 2005) personalizes a sacred mythic experience. By extension, the lush growth in Mario Martinez’ series Yaqui Abstraction (2010) echoes the far-away tropical landscape that also defines the Daly River area.

The mission of Manresa Gallery is to honor creativity in diverse and adverse contexts. This show gathers objects and images far apart on the globe; they nonetheless resonate with each other within a broader sacred space: the church.  When filled with the work of these artists, the Gallery celebrates a new spirit that wells up quietly, unexpectedly and powerfully from within.

James R. Blaettler, S.J.
Director & Curator, Manresa Gallery