Cruciform Art

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I made this in June 2007 in my parents’ garage. It was one of the first times I remember experimenting with the cruciform pose: arms stretched wide, this pose carries so much meaning for me because of Jesus and the cross.

That pose ended up becoming one that I return to again and again in my photography. I’ve probably used some version of it in more photoshoots than any other pose. At the time, though, I wasn’t thinking about creating some lifelong visual theme. I was just experimenting.

This was also around the time I started layering photography with digital art, the roots of trying surreal photography. Photoshop was another place to experiment, and I was learning what could happen when a straightforward self-portrait became something stranger and more abstract.

Contact sheet from Cruciform, showing early male nude self-portrait photography experiments with the cruciform pose, digital effects, color, contrast, and abstract editing.
A contact sheet from Cruciform, showing some of my early experiments with the cruciform pose and the digital effects that helped shape the final artwork.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)

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