Transforming Wounds - 2021

Eight 15cm x 15cm squares of wallaby parchment provided the initial impetus for my exploration of the exhibition theme. Each segment harbours various signs of the animal’s continuum of life, death and transformation through wounds and scars and the membrane of organs of the living animal. Its later processing into parchment also reveals the natural edges of the animal skin, along with a hand-stitched repair to a tear in the parchment at a later date.  

The work is informed by personal memory and a range of meditative images painted in medieval illuminated manuscripts made for women, and which functioned as books of reflective prayer. Key symbols recur such as the flesh wound and the bleeding heart, acting as metaphors for ‘the sword of sorrow to the soul’ of Mary the Mother and the pierced flesh of Christ redeemer in his death. My medals and ex-votos are knitted through the gaping wound of negative space, referring to universal pain and grief. These small tokens collate my journeys to holy places. Recalled are the relics and wounds of Christ, Mary, Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena, and which initiated personal re-integration, ex-votoes being items of thanksgiving for wounds healed.

The medieval notion of membrana is also explored as a drawing and painting process that aims to manifest the soul and spiritual essence of sentient beings, and which influenced the method of making holy icons in manuscripts. Medieval Christian iconography also presents skin, wounds and healing as a meditation on the re-integration of the soul with the divine.

I've always loved the integrity and harmony of natural ingredients for painting and gilding on panel and parchment. The organic unity of all creation seems to have been understood and celebrated more deeply in the centuries past. I have used Syrian saffron, earth green, caput mortuum and lapis lazuli as raw pigments bound with the traditional medium of egg glair and honey, which has a delicate matte and glaze-like quality. Gold leaf, being an ancient symbol of permanence and immortality, has also been tooled and burnished. Embroidered stitches and macrame knots of silk thread loosely connect the various components of the composition, like the surgeon’s needle that temporarily binds broken and disseminated flesh.

The work is displayed in a type of cabinet of treasures rather than a traditional picture frame, and I hope that this presentation contributes to the communication of ideas through images and objects that are transitory yet revered and adorned, and which have a history of being touched and cherished. 

Ursula Betka

Dr Ursula Betka is an iconographic artist working in a range of historical materials and methods - tempera painting and gilding on wood, parchment and glass, exploring ways in which these traditions might resonate spiritual meaning today. Ursula integrates her practice with the teaching and writing of art history by examining the function and context of sacred art objects for the participating user. Her work also highlights certain streams of iconographic and theological thought that are inseparable from the inner language of contemplation.

Her book, Techniques of Painting and Gilding in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy, was published by Hardie Grant in 2024.