Artist Statement: Flecti Non Frangai is a Latin phrase meaning “To Be Bent Not Broken. It refers to one who can endure hardship and not break. Isaiah 42:3 reads, “A bruised reed He will not break…….. In faithfulness He will bring forth victory.” In this verse the prophet uses the metaphor of a reed bent and bruised by the wind, ready to break. It has been battered by life’s adversity and is on the verge of breaking at the next injustice. Charles Spurgeon, the famous 19th century preacher, describes the ‘bruised reed” as a person bending and bowing in the storms of life. Yet, God in His faithfulness provides in each of us the vitality to spring back. Upon each stem rest clusters of hope with the power to blossom and open up to the light of God’s love and healing presence.
This Sacred Art Structure juxtaposes bent nails, one of the instruments of Jesus’s crucifixion, with the carved figure of a fish, a first century symbol for Christianity, and an assortment of vintage crucifixes, the most prominent symbol of the Christian faith. The heavy hammer of trauma that forces us to bow in the storm of life is likened to Christ in His weakened and vulnerable state on the cross. In the end Jesus was not broken by the forces of evil. He was transformed and rose again in three days displaying a power that many thought had been snuffed out.