I thought about in class how we were talking about how a picture is a representation of a memory, not the memory itself. My first idea was to take about 15 pictures of my dogs running around and playing and super-impose them into one picture, hoping to create movement and try to engage the other senses. But when it comes down to it, no matter what you do, a photograph is a representation there to remind you of a special event. Unfortunately my dogs got sick, which made it hard to create movement with sickly sleeping dogs.
So I decided to go with the historical themed images I had created for class exercises such as, the Wolves in the Roman Forum, Ruben's skinny women and the Pigs in the Vatican. The last piece struck a cord because I find the filthy pigs being in one of the holiest places in the world interesting.
I thought of even holier places in the world and came up with the Holiest Site image.
A little history is helpful in understanding this image. In biblical times, King Solomon built a temple that was thought to literally be the house of God, built to his specifications and where Abraham offered up his son for sacrifice. It housed some of the Holiest objects in history, including The Arc of the Covenant, which contained the 10 commandments. This Temple was built on a historically Holy mountain called Mount Moriah, which was sacred to many cultures for thousands of years.
The first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, all the sacred objects sacked. Until King Herod rebuilt the temple years later, only to be destroyed by the Romans. The only part of the Temple that remains is the Western outermost fortification wall of the second temple, also called the Wailing or Western Wall. People from many faiths travel from around the world to pray at this wall and write down their prayers to stick in between the cracks in the imposing stone blocks, hoping their prayers will be answered. Being that this wall is only a couple hundred yards from the site of their temple, you can see why it would be the holiest place for the Jewish faith.
The Mosque in the background of the picture is called the Dome of the Rock, and was built directly on top of the ruins of the first and second temple. According to the Islamic Faith, it is also holy for the same reason, it is where Abraham gave up his son to sacrrifice. It is also believed to be the place where Muhammad ascended to heaven directly on a rock contained within the mosque on top of Mount Moriah. So you can also see why it would be one of the holiest places for Muslim people as well.
These two faiths have fought for many reasons for thousands of years, but one main reason is that the Jewish people believe the Messiah cannot come unless the Temple is rebuilt. I don't see Muslim people destroying one of their most holy sites for the rebuilding of anything let alone a temple for their enemies.
It saddens me that 2 faiths that come from the same forefather have fought for thousands of years. Every religion has fundamentalist and it is wrong when texts are construed for one group's beliefs, or taken out of context to prove something or persuade someone.
The concept for the Holiest Site is that a simple student, sitting in a classroom could cause controversy around the world with an image or photograph. This shows the impact that photography has on modern culture is huge.
I placed Orthodox Jewish people praying at the Mosque's outer walls like they do at their Temple's outer wall. I then added pigs to show both the "unholiness" of the actions taking place and the similarities between the 2 faiths, as neither one eats pork (the reasons for which are complicated traditions that are thousands of years old.).
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