"Self Portrait in Carmelite Habit"
Kerry Wright, 1970
Oils on canvas
60cm x 50cm (24in x 20in)
Kerry Wright, 1970
Oils on canvas
60cm x 50cm (24in x 20in)
I have been sketching and painting my
own image since early childhood and the above self portrait is one of my first
serious attempts at capturing my likeness in oils on canvas. In the painting, I
am gazing intensely, sans spectacles, at my own reflection in the mirror above
the sink of my cell at Mount Carmel Carmelite Monastery in Sydney . I had
entered the cloister in order to study for the priesthood. Alas, however, over
a period of time, I came to realize that I did not possess the religious
vocation I had so fervently hoped and prayed would be mine during my
adolescence. So I leaped over the monastery wall and got on with my life in the
secular world. It was a memorable experience and I met some wonderful people
while I was in the monastery. Certainly, I harbour no regrets about my time spent
within the Carmelite cloister. In fact, I'm glad I went in, because if I had not
done so, I would always wonder if I was meant to be a priest. It was a time of
intense self-reflection in my life, which is evident in this self portrait. George and I
recently made a pilgrimage back to the site of the monastery and were very
saddened by the overdevelopment of what had once been such an idyllic, sylvan
setting. The monastery grounds had once occupied an entire vast hilltop in
outer Sydney and
comprised a small working farm as well as the monastic building complex itself.
Everything has long since fallen victim to the city’s ever increasing suburban
sprawl. The grounds have been subdivided into new streets of gaudy,
ostentatious McMansions. The beautiful monastery building itself, with its
pretty little chapel, laid waste by the bulldozer’s might. There’s not even
a plaque to signify a monastery once stood there.
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