The awareness that the relationship between humanity and the ecosystem is changing looms over our era.

The climate crisis is unraveling what seemed in the past to be the “normal” world order.In Where Paths Meet, Elena Ceretti Stein reexamines the “contract” between humanity and the ecosystem through three mystical figures: the Christian St. George, Muslim saint Al-Khader, and the Jewish Prophet Elijah.

The figures are not portrayed in the space, but the landscapes in which they are described in various visual and textual sources appear in the detailed virtuoso faux stained glass paintings in the arched windows.

A monumental abstract painting, Subtraction (2023), acts like a “black hole” and is the focus of the exhibition. Wooden pathways suggest a course through the space and propose points for contemplation. The floor’s shiny surface reflects and blurs its surroundings like water.

The windows, the painting, and additional elements as well as viewers walking through the space become a dance of forms, challenging the feeling of stability in the space. Ceretti Stein refers indirectly to the contemporary feeling of alienation and a certain fear of the ecosystem which seems to be rebelling against the human impact.

 

The space of the CACR has undergone a near metamorphosis during the exhibition through a thoughtful use of the characteristics that echo religious spaces. The colorful windows create an immediate association to churches, while the floor evokes water, associated with the mikveh (Jewish ritual bath), or to the Wudu – ablutions before prayer in Islam. The space envelops visitors, with light and reflections emerging from the darkness.

Ceretti Stein has created a spiritual space without religion which questions the essence of sanctity, wondering what makes it the convergence of human longings.

A close reading of the windows reveals well-wrought images of living creatures in a landscape made with glass paints and biodegradable materials such as leaves. Church stained-glass windows usually have the image of a saint in the center, but in Where Paths Meet the saints are only hints. Ceretti Stein speaks about an alternative paradigm to viewing humanity as apart from nature instead of a part of nature.

 

The process of healing the ecosystem, so badly disrupted, especially over past decades, will take place only when humanity internalizes that it is an integral part of the world, as are the flora and fauna inhabiting Earth. The exhibition challenges the deeply rooted consensus reflected in various creation myths in which the universe was created for the sake of human beings. Ceretti Stein advocates a paradigm shift away from the anthropocentric view of the universe.

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Text by Dr. Smadar Sheffi for the CACR