X-Ray As Art

X-Ray as Art

Guest Writer: George Taylor

white calla lilly

In 2002, my “photography” took another unexpected turn when we acquired a digital fluoroscopy unit (a device that allows still and video x-ray images). We needed a moving target to simulate blood flowing in the arterial system, so we took two fish in a bowl and took an X-ray movie of them swimming around. The resulting image was a lovely translucent yin-yang pattern formed by the two circling fish.

I became fascinated by the potential of radiography as art and began to experiment. X-rays enable us to utilize highly sophisticated technology to create a photogram, one of the oldest and simplest methods of reproducing an image.

I began to image flowers on a whim. Whatever the underlying drive, one thing is for sure—I had an epiphany that day. When the first image appeared on the computer screen, I immediately recognized the haunting similarity between the plant and animal kingdoms. Radiographic images reveal in stunning detail the archetypal structures and patterns that are repeated with elegance and precision in every living organism, from the radial symmetry of the human brain to the unfurling splendor of a fiddlehead fern. 

I began a single-minded campaign to image just about everything that I could fit under the X-ray machine—from endless varieties and configurations of plants and flowers to seashells.

In a sense, I became obsessed with identifying and cataloging how structure, texture, color, and function move fluidly across boundaries, from plant to animal, from animate to inanimate—all with incredible grace, continuity, charm, and captivating beauty. Their inner structures, hidden in visible light, become their most noticeable features.

At times, these ordinary objects take on a new identity. A flower becomes a puff of smoke or an underwater creature swirling with its partners in an aquatic ballet. A sand dollar becomes an example of delicate lace, and an old handmade lace mantilla resembles the x-ray tracings of sub-atomic particles in a linear accelerator.

Finally, X-ray art has enabled me to utilize the same technology that I have used for 40 years to detect diseases in children and transform it into a means of revealing the inner beauty of nature.

To see more X-ray art, I invite you to visit my website <taylorimaging.net>, à browse à X-ray Art.

George Taylor, MD

Joanna joannaseibert.com

The Sea Is His

The Sea Is His
Venite

“Come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before God’s presence with thanksgiving;
and raise to the Lord a shout with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God;
you are great above all gods.
In your hand are the caverns of the earth;
and the heights of the hills are yours also.
The sea is yours, for you made it,
and your hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee,
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For you are our God,
and we are the people of your pasture, and the sheep of your hand.
O that today we would hearken to your voice!”—Psalm 95:1-7.

He hurries in late, with coffee in one hand and keys in another. “Sorry about being late. Trying to do too much, too much going on.” I light our candle as a prayer to the Holy Spirit to be present at our meeting. We sit in silence until his breathing becomes less labored.

“When I am so busy, my world becomes all about me. I do not feel God’s presence. I wish I knew how to slow down my life and better hear God working in my life,” he finally says.

I tell him I know exactly what he is talking about. But I let him know it could be different and told him this story.

On our last visit to the Gulf of Mexico, my husband and I rose early whenever possible, sitting on our balcony and waiting in the dark for the sun to rise. Usually, the sun creeps up, a little pink, a little lighter, and then with a massive crash of light like the cymbals and tympani at the conclusion of a symphony.

We become real beach bums for a few days, just sitting or looking out on the changing sea, waiting for the early morning fishermen: the osprey, the fishing boats, the surf fishermen with their accompanying blue heron, waiting for the catch of the day. Soon come the dolphins and the pelicans, swimming and flying and diving back and forth along the shoreline.

We take in a world more remarkable than that of our own making.

The Venite from Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer speaks to what happens more than we can express.

Paul Tillich, the famous theologian who spent his lifetime trying to understand God, came and sat by the ocean for the first time and wept uncontrollably as he experienced the vastness of God in the sea—more than he had ever imagined. Sitting by a body of water and observing new life as it emerges each day from under and above the sea, marveling at such a vast world of wonder, can be more healing than drugs.

Is it possible to start the day or stop to sit by a body of water during the day? Then, for a half-hour, during lunch or after dinner, stop and allow the rhythm of life on the river, sea, or lake to heal you.

It may be more difficult for some to go to the sea unless we live by it. Instead, we can bring up memories of what it was like on our last trip. Perhaps we will also be encouraged to make more memories the next time we are there.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Joanna   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Paschal Candles and the Light of Christ

Paschal Candles and the Light of Christ

“After the Baptism, a candle (which is lighted from the Paschal Candle) may be given to each of the newly baptized or to a godparent.” —Book of Common Prayer.      

Paschal Candle

As a smaller candle is lit from the large white Paschal Candle after a child is baptized, I am often privileged to hand it to the parent or godparent receiving it and say, “The light of Christ.” Indeed, the Paschal Candle is frequently referred to as the Christ Candle or the Easter Candle.

Parents are given this smaller baptismal candle to take home and encouraged to light it on their child’s baptism anniversary as a yearly remembrance. It beautifully symbolizes the light of Christ in our hearts and minds.  

We may think the light of Christ inside us is small, but we are called, mandated to share that light, and one of the ways to pass on our light is to encourage one another. As Paul modeled in writing so many letters to others, we are also called to connect with others who carry that light. That is why we have spiritual friends or sometimes a spiritual director.  

When our light seems to dim, the others in our life who live in the light will lead us to the Paschal Candle, where we will once again find our light, often even brighter. We light the Paschal Candle during the Easter season, at Baptisms, and funerals—all times when we want and need to be reminded of the light of Christ in our hearts, in others, and in the world.  

Each time I meet with spiritual friends, I light a candle as they enter. This reminds me of how we share Christ’s light with each other. My experience is that I learn more from listening and talking with people than from what I can impart to them. We gather to see and encourage the light of Christ in one another. We meet solely to care for each other’s souls.

Joanna joannaseibert.com