YHWH
“Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”
YHWH won the Mandorla Art Award’s Highly Commended Prize in response to the 2014 theme “Elijah meets God” taken from 1 Kings 19:11-13.
YHWH is the Jewish name for God. The original pronunciation was lost many centuries ago, but it was likely ‘Yahweh’ – the same sounds we make when breathing in and out and therefore the first and last thing each of us will say. Could the daily whisper of our breath also be a gentle calling to God, who first breathed that breath into us? A still, small voice from God speaking to us via our own mouth acknowledging the life we have.
“A single idea based on naming the sound of God, the life force itself, whispered breath after breath, is realised through this four-minute video. A bearded man (Could it be the prophet Elijah perhaps?) is filmed in close up and made exposed and open in this meditative act that taps into the mystical in the best sense. That physical expression of the spiritual is even more pronounced as each exhalation condenses and evaporates on the lens, drawing in the viewer in a way that is unsettling and familiar at the same time.”