“In the West, we are quick to throw away, to replace, to move on. But the Kintsugi master does not rush to repair. The first gesture is not fixing, but seeing — an act of reverence.”
Makoto Fujimura
Heading image: Jane Skeer, Out of the Ashes II and III, 2020. Ashes and rust from 2019/2020 Kangaroo Island bushfires, 66 x 86.5 cm. Photograph by Grant Hancock. Copyright © 2020 Jane Skeer, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
A Note from IAMCultureCare
Almost five years ago to the day, I was in the hectic midst of my sophomore spring semester and preparing for concerts later that March, including a performance of Daniel Knagg’s Of Time and Passing - II. To Everything a Season. The upbeat, quasi-pop a cappella setting of the famous words of Ecclesiastes 3 belied the stark reality to come: within days, the COVID-19 pandemic would shutter my college campus, the work never to be performed by me and my fellow choir members. The ensuing weeks and months would truly be “a time to weep…mourn…and refrain from embracing.”
I think of that moment and song text now amidst the chaos of 2025. In some ways, cultural life is measurably better. We now have a “time to rejoice, to laugh, to dance.” The arts have come roaring back with a heightened awareness of the power of presence. And each performance or exhibit I attend now that we are “back to normal” is that much more special for it.
Yet our 2025 experience is also culturally dissonant. For all the uncertainty and fear during the pandemic, those first few weeks also brought a strange sense of unity that is a far cry from the ever-increasing polarization we now experience. In part, I think that was because we had to reckon with the nearness of death. We had to admit, for one undistracted moment, that we were not in control. (It’s a frightening thought, but not a new one. For two thousand years, the church has solemnly repeated the words “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return; repent and believe the gospel” each Ash Wednesday, marking her members with the cold ashes of the previous year’s celebratory Palm Sunday branches — a visceral memento mori. Only in our modern age is death so ignorable.)
What is art for in such a polarized time? A wise mentor reminded me that while art can do many things, it is fundamentally for transformation, and transformation requires we be willing to change. We need the humility (that a close encounter with death can prompt) to recognize that we are not yet whole, that we — like our politics — are also fractured.
As Mako Fujimura writes in his linked Substack post below, Kintsugi teaches us that you cannot repair fractures with gold until you behold them. Kintsugi masters will hold on to broken fragments, sometimes passing them on for multiple generations, because they understand that the full weight of the fractures must be felt before they can be mended. The act of breaking does violence not to the object only, but also to an interdependent web of relationships: the original potter’s time and creativity, the vessel’s use and positive presence in the lives of all who have interacted with it, even the humanity of the person who broke it are all implicated.
It requires courage to wait in that discomfort, though, and I don’t have easy answers to culture wars or the chaos of our present politics. But I do wonder if we ought to develop more of a beholding, Ecclesiastes 3, Ash Wednesday perspective. If Culture Care is to see our culture as soil to tend so that good, beautiful, and true things might flourish, then we should learn the lesson of a winter garden. It is precisely when all seems dead and the soil lies fallow that the vital work of composting and germination takes place. Remember that you are dust, and dust you shall return, because therein is the possibility for new life.
Jacob Beaird, Editor
Daniel Knaggs: Of Time and Passing — II. To Everything a Season
A Note from Makoto Fujimura, Founder of IAMCultureCare
In these disquieting, chaotic times we live in, I always remember that artists throughout the centuries have created indelible enduring works in even more uncertain times. Artists like Fra Angelico, Georges Rouault, or more recently Hilma af Clint were faithful to their call and craft even through wars, exiles, and plagues.
Recently, I found myself on a stage in front of more than 3,000 leaders from across the world, speaking on the “Interdependence of Colors: Art, Liberal Democracy, and the Culture of Seeing.” It was one of the most uncomfortable stages to be on. The air was full of culture wars rhetoric, but I was grateful to be able to speak into — and from the eye of — the storm. I posted the full lecture text with additional footnotes on my Substack page for subscribers (all funds raised through Substack go directly to this effort with IAMCultureCare) or you can listen to the lecture here. The invitation to this international gathering also gave me a rare opportunity to showcase my large frontispiece paintings from The Four Holy Gospels for the first time in London.
It was artists who spoke truth to power at the conference. Listen to Joshua Luke Smith’s powerful closing poem or look at the mercy portraits painted by Hannah Rose Thomas — both part of IAMCultureCare and Embers International’s Artists Advocacy program. These artists, among many others at the conference, were not quite sure why they were there, but at the same time were affirmed in their call to “stand in the gap” together in this time of great polarity and fractures.
We must create works that endure beyond the short attention span of culture wars. We must create works of authenticity that transcend the divide and refuse to bow down to the idols of power or be hijacked by blind ideologies. In the turmoil of “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” of history, we can continue to do our quiet work, being faithful to our calling.
May God bless our hands in doing so.
Yours for Culture Care,
Mako Fujimura
Call for Art - The Bridge House Gallery
Tend. Verb. Meaning to move in a specific direction. Or, to exhibit a specific inclination. Or, to pay attention to, to care for, to cultivate, to stand by.
In tending to growing things, might we also care for ourselves and others? In observing things that shoot up, bloom, and then wither and die, only to resurrect again, can we craft a vision of hope? Can gardens do more than make space for beauty? Can they make space for sorrow, for anger, for love, for forgiveness, for second chances?
Tend seeks to explore the power of gardens as agents of beauty, hope, and resilience through artistic observations/interpretations of such spaces. We especially want to see work that explores gardens as places for generative spiritual care of persons, places, plants, animals, etc.
See full submission dates and requirements at the application page. Submission Deadline: 04/04/2025.
About Our Gallery: The Bridge House Gallery seeks to support emerging and mid-career artists, particularly artists of Christian faith, by exhibiting their work in a unique and intimate setting. Our gallery functions as a third space between Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Intersect Arts Center, providing a cozy and creative space for engagement with the arts. Through exhibitions, artist talks, reading groups, and special events, The Bridge House Gallery hopes to deepen conversations on faith, art, and what it means to work vocationally as an artist in this world.
Culture Care Events & Announcements
- CORRECTED DATE: Beauty & Justice Lecture Series and Exhibit — Philadelphia, PA, 2024 – 2025. Mako and Haejin Shim Fujimura selected as University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Social Equity & Community’s Equity in Action Visiting Scholars for the 2024 – 25 academic year, presenting lectures on the topic of“Beauty+Justice”. The final lecture will occur on April 7, with an exhibition of Mako’s monumental“Transfiguration” triptych from March 14-June 1, 2025. Both will be at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and the RSVP page for the lecture will go live soon.
- Leaders Like Us Global Summit—Wheaton, IL, Mar 23 – 25. Mako and Haejin Fujimura to speak to the conference topic of“Owning Our Calling with Confidence”.
- East Asian Christianity Conference—South Hamilton, MA, Apr 3–5. Mako Fujimura to speak on Christianity in East Asian Art.
- Goldenwood Institute Fallow Retreat—Cambridge, UK, May 13–16. Goldenwood staff, board, and deans (including Mako and Haejin Fujimura) lead the annual Fallow retreat in Cambridge.
Do you have a news item or upcoming culture care event? Consider sharing it with us for a possible feature here in the newsletter! Email jacob@internationalartsmovement.org.
Web Links
- New music recs: Norwegian folk meets the Persian setar in Constantinople’s Nordic Lights; Rachmaninoff’s last living pupil, American pianist Ruth Slenczynska is 100 years old this year(!) and has a new compilation album of historic and recent recordings; the award-winning University of Pretoria Camerata’s Light the Whole Sky.
- On patriarchy, parenthood, and prize-winning cows, from Plough.
- Also from Plough (they do such good work), the revolutionary art of Luo Zhongli.
- Paul Kingsnorth’s provocative lecture “Against Christian Civilization”.
- I don’t really listen to CDs, but if I did, this stunning new collected works by Steve Reich would be tempting.
- The Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts DITA2025 conference is upcoming in September.
- August Strindberg’s beautiful 1893 “Celestographs”.
IAMCultureCare is a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization that relies on your support to continue our Culture Care efforts of amending the soil of culture as an antidote to toxic culture wars. This newsletter and our other programming do that effectively, and we welcome gifts of any size to continue these efforts. You can donate here or get in touch with us about corporate sponsorship!
All content in this newsletter belongs to the respective creators, as noted, and is used with permission. If you would like to submit something for consideration in a future newsletter issue, you may do so by filling out this form or by emailing jacob@internationalartsmovement.org.