My heart has been split between two worlds:
One part of me is firmly planted in the United States.
One has been left on the other side of the globe.
I find myself in tension, now a part of both.
By joining two distinct and often unrelated images to form a new whole, I offer a metaphor for making seemingly impossible personal connections between lives and across cultures. Just as when images are paired and new patterns of light, color, shape, and texture are formed, so also, by stepping across language, physical, social, cultural, and religious barriers, a new realm of relationships and community becomes possible. I invite you to take that step and rediscover the greater story in which we are all connected.
I long for the suburbs of Los Angeles to meet the slums of India: for urban college students, professors, and businessmen to meet rural tea workers, rice farmers, and shop owners, and for each to see God’s image in the other.
Perhaps that is what it truly means to be a part.
Jennifer Gerberding, 2011
