Sam Van Aken
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10
Among the countless sermons I heard as child at church every week, it was the words of mercy, kindness, and compassion heard in the Sermon on the Mount, that always seemed to provide the best guidance not toward just being a good Christian, but a better human. As a teenager moving toward agnosticism, this was affirmed by my favorite author and proclaimed atheist Kurt Vonnegut, who questioned why it wasn’t a creed we all lived by, a basic dignity and humanity we should share and show to one another.
Choosing these words from the Beatitudes, “Kingdom of Heaven” for the skywriting over Raymondville Texas, I am hoping to confront our actions with our beliefs. How can we as a country, founded in these ethics and much of whose own history was formed from migration allow our neighbors who share the same beliefs, aspirations, and desires as our own ancestors to be treated so unlike thyself, to separate children from their parents and hide them away in secretive locations among a host of other crimes. Continuing to grapple with my own faith, I do know for certain that those who continue to allow this will not Inherit the Earth and theirs most certainly will not be the Kingdom of Heaven.”
BIO
Sam Van Aken is a contemporary artist who works beyond traditional modes of art making, crossing artistic genres and disciplines to develop new perspectives on such themes as communication, botany, agriculture, climatology, and the ever-increasing impact of technology. Van Aken’s interventions in the natural and public realm are seen as metaphors that serve as the basis of narrative, sites of place making, and in some cases even become the basis of scientific research.
OWN WORDS
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