WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY - A Tale of Two Pictures
Welcome to World Philosophy Day (20 November, 2025).
Consider this….
What’s the difference between these two photographs I’ve posted today? One shows a mother holding the body of her dead son, the other a son holding the body of his elderly dead father. Both are sculptures. One is perhaps the most famous sculpture ever made by a 23 year old genius we came to know as Michelangelo. The other is a hyper-real sculpture based on real life experience by Australian sculptor, Sam Jinks. One is overtly religious, the other is asking questions about life and death itself. One is generally accepted as a beautiful depiction of motherly love, the other was virtually banned from Flickr. Now comes the philosophical question: WHY?
Before I provide some clues to an answer, here’s what happened. I posted a series of sculptures by Sam Jinks presented at the QVMAG in Launceston. www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/Whats-on/Art-Gallery-at-Royal-Park/S...
I only posted them in groups that did not directly exclude adult themes of nudity and death. A few days later I received an email from Flickr saying that I had been reported and that some of these photographs had been restricted and removed from groups. The beautiful photographs of The Messenger, showing a topless angel, were removed from all but 15 groups. You see more provocative photos in many people’s list of favourites. But the one that shocked me most was Still Life (Seated Pieta), 2007. This remained in only two groups, and what’s worse I can’t even post a link to it here because Flickr has blocked any chance of linking or embedding of that photograph. You can still see it in my photostream if you do not have a safe setting on your Flickr account. But for most people it is now invisible on Flickr. One of the greatest contemporary sculptures in Australia, dealing with a theme that was covered by Michelangelo in his Pietà, has effectively been banned by Flickr.
One is based on religious conjecture, the other on the actual reality of a son holding his dead father. As I wrote on that photograph most are not allowed to see:
“This has a very personal application in my case (and clearly informed my photograph in subconscious ways). When my father died (nearly three years ago now), I assisted the nurse in washing his body as we waited for the morticians to arrive. I held his body as the nurse so gently sponged it. I looked down at this body so old and broken by the cancer that destroyed it, and reflected on how it was once in full-bloom, so strong and commanding, as I remembered my father to be.”
But let’s get to the nub of the philosophical argument here (since it is World Philosophy Day after all).
Does a religious outlook inoculate a work of art from critical scrutiny? Death can be shown overtly in Mary holding the body of her son Jesus, whilst a contemporary example cannot? For instance, death and violence is quite common in religious art down through the centuries, but people get offended when they see modern works that treat these issues honestly. Why? That is the question.
Death may be the great unknown. For all the videos you’ll see online about Near Death Experiences (NDEs) this much is clear: None of these people actually died. They were resuscitated (not resurrected) and brought back into the land of the living. One more thing, all the characteristic similarities of these experiences (tunnels, white light, meeting a spiritual figure) point to a common origin, most likely the dissolution of the brain cells that are being starved of oxygen. In other words, this is purely a physical reaction and tells us nothing about the afterlife. We mustn’t confuse psychological experiences with reality. And that’s not to say anything about the online grifters who do it for the money. But I digress.
Freud made it very clear that death is not something that most people are comfortable with. So we use whatever mental strategies possible to deny our own mortality. We can’t deny that people die, but we don’t actually believe we will. Or we devise all kinds of theories about the afterlife, that usually presuppose the survival of the ego, when in fact we don’t really know.
It has been said (and I believe it), that death is the great teacher of life. I should also add that death is the true friend of the desperately frail and sick and mortally wounded. This is certainly the argument for Voluntary Assisted Dying. But don’t take my word for it, listen to what Jeff Foster has to say in this profoundly honest poem:
“Death
is the greatest teacher of all.
Greater than all human philosophies.
Truer than any religion.
Death
strips away the lies, the pretence.
Death makes a mockery of our resentment.
It burns our greed, grudges and grievances.
Death
invites us to be utterly present.
To let go.
To forgive.
To meet, without history.
Death
makes it plain that only love matters.
That only love makes life worth living.
And all else is dust.
Death
is a ruthless portal.
Worldly riches are powerless against it.
Hatred cannot survive it.
Only love can pass through.
We return
to our True Nature.
The cycle
is complete.”
So I support Sam Jinks' right to create his own Pietà, based on real-life experience. It is not religious in the sense that it provides answers to the question about death, but it sure asks the right questions. And people should be allowed to see that!
I welcome your reflections...
WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY - A Tale of Two Pictures
Welcome to World Philosophy Day (20 November, 2025).
Consider this….
What’s the difference between these two photographs I’ve posted today? One shows a mother holding the body of her dead son, the other a son holding the body of his elderly dead father. Both are sculptures. One is perhaps the most famous sculpture ever made by a 23 year old genius we came to know as Michelangelo. The other is a hyper-real sculpture based on real life experience by Australian sculptor, Sam Jinks. One is overtly religious, the other is asking questions about life and death itself. One is generally accepted as a beautiful depiction of motherly love, the other was virtually banned from Flickr. Now comes the philosophical question: WHY?
Before I provide some clues to an answer, here’s what happened. I posted a series of sculptures by Sam Jinks presented at the QVMAG in Launceston. www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/Whats-on/Art-Gallery-at-Royal-Park/S...
I only posted them in groups that did not directly exclude adult themes of nudity and death. A few days later I received an email from Flickr saying that I had been reported and that some of these photographs had been restricted and removed from groups. The beautiful photographs of The Messenger, showing a topless angel, were removed from all but 15 groups. You see more provocative photos in many people’s list of favourites. But the one that shocked me most was Still Life (Seated Pieta), 2007. This remained in only two groups, and what’s worse I can’t even post a link to it here because Flickr has blocked any chance of linking or embedding of that photograph. You can still see it in my photostream if you do not have a safe setting on your Flickr account. But for most people it is now invisible on Flickr. One of the greatest contemporary sculptures in Australia, dealing with a theme that was covered by Michelangelo in his Pietà, has effectively been banned by Flickr.
One is based on religious conjecture, the other on the actual reality of a son holding his dead father. As I wrote on that photograph most are not allowed to see:
“This has a very personal application in my case (and clearly informed my photograph in subconscious ways). When my father died (nearly three years ago now), I assisted the nurse in washing his body as we waited for the morticians to arrive. I held his body as the nurse so gently sponged it. I looked down at this body so old and broken by the cancer that destroyed it, and reflected on how it was once in full-bloom, so strong and commanding, as I remembered my father to be.”
But let’s get to the nub of the philosophical argument here (since it is World Philosophy Day after all).
Does a religious outlook inoculate a work of art from critical scrutiny? Death can be shown overtly in Mary holding the body of her son Jesus, whilst a contemporary example cannot? For instance, death and violence is quite common in religious art down through the centuries, but people get offended when they see modern works that treat these issues honestly. Why? That is the question.
Death may be the great unknown. For all the videos you’ll see online about Near Death Experiences (NDEs) this much is clear: None of these people actually died. They were resuscitated (not resurrected) and brought back into the land of the living. One more thing, all the characteristic similarities of these experiences (tunnels, white light, meeting a spiritual figure) point to a common origin, most likely the dissolution of the brain cells that are being starved of oxygen. In other words, this is purely a physical reaction and tells us nothing about the afterlife. We mustn’t confuse psychological experiences with reality. And that’s not to say anything about the online grifters who do it for the money. But I digress.
Freud made it very clear that death is not something that most people are comfortable with. So we use whatever mental strategies possible to deny our own mortality. We can’t deny that people die, but we don’t actually believe we will. Or we devise all kinds of theories about the afterlife, that usually presuppose the survival of the ego, when in fact we don’t really know.
It has been said (and I believe it), that death is the great teacher of life. I should also add that death is the true friend of the desperately frail and sick and mortally wounded. This is certainly the argument for Voluntary Assisted Dying. But don’t take my word for it, listen to what Jeff Foster has to say in this profoundly honest poem:
“Death
is the greatest teacher of all.
Greater than all human philosophies.
Truer than any religion.
Death
strips away the lies, the pretence.
Death makes a mockery of our resentment.
It burns our greed, grudges and grievances.
Death
invites us to be utterly present.
To let go.
To forgive.
To meet, without history.
Death
makes it plain that only love matters.
That only love makes life worth living.
And all else is dust.
Death
is a ruthless portal.
Worldly riches are powerless against it.
Hatred cannot survive it.
Only love can pass through.
We return
to our True Nature.
The cycle
is complete.”
So I support Sam Jinks' right to create his own Pietà, based on real-life experience. It is not religious in the sense that it provides answers to the question about death, but it sure asks the right questions. And people should be allowed to see that!
I welcome your reflections...