Description
Icon: The Baptism of Jesus
Written by: R.Gallacher
Medium: Tempera on wood
Size: A4 21.0 x 29.7 cm
Proceeds: 100% to Hotham Mission, Uniting Church, North Melbourne
In the icon, Jesus blesses the waters in which he is baptised, and symbols of oppression are overpowered. On the left side of the icon, there is desert, and on the right, fertility, suggesting the journey from death to life. The nakedness of Jesus, like Adam, indicates his humility, his complete self-emptying (cf Philippians 2:7). The angels offer Jesus new clothes for a new ministry.
This icon is an original composition with an Australian flavour. The mountains are from the Bungle Bungles, the tree is gum, all the ochres are Australian and the motifs acknowledging the first peoples recur.
