Image of the Week: World Mother
© D. Yael Bernhard
God as a woman, in the form of a comma.
I had to read my client's email several times. Was this for real? A Christian client, no less?
It was. That’s what they wanted: a divine mother shaped like a comma, to signify that God’s message has only pauses, no period. The illustration would be printed on an 18-foot banner, to be displayed at the 2004 national conference of the United Church of Christ known as the General Synod. The slogan on the banner and theme of the conference was God Is Still Speaking, – with a comma. Open-ended and continuing into the future.
I was chosen for the assignment because of my portfolio of mother-and-child art – for this was not to be God the Creator of heaven and earth, but the divine mother of compassion, the dispenser of charity serving a rainbow of humanity. Community service is a big focus for UCC, nothing less than a worldly manifestation of the holy spirit. How fitting that this should be embodied as feminine! They stopped short of using the word "Goddess," but that was okay. I was immensely pleased to accept this assignment.
So I set to work on one of the most unusual commissions I've ever received. An image of a universal mother cradling people in need, people of faith, people in community, began to form in my mind. Like colorful fruit in Mother Nature’s basket of abundance, they represent different activities and phases of life: a mother with a baby, an elder with a walking stick, a worker with a shovel, a musician with a flute. The people spilling down the mother's arm are like grapes. Her lower arm gives to the world, while the other curls protectively around her children.
Before the recession of 2008, I received several commissions each year for business logos and events. A custom-designed illustration could be used on websites, letterheads, business cards and printed matter of all kinds, including t-shirts, stickers, coffee mugs, and the like. I did quite a few for midwives, massage therapists, and other healers who were drawn to my style, which people have described as earthy, multicultural, mythical, nurturing, and more.
Since the recession, this sort of work has nearly ceased. Stock imagery is easily available online. Photography has become more popular than illustration, and with the new AI image generators, can be quite striking. Promotion budgets have shrunk, or are allocated to other venues such as videos, website design, or social media content. Most of my work was in children's books at the time, so I didn't mind – but I do miss these assignments which are often uniquely creative and challenging.
It was an honor and a pleasure to depict a feminine god for a notoriously patriarchal institution. I wish I could have been at the conference to see how people responded to it. I never did get to see the 18-foot banner or any of the printed matter produced from the illustration. Still, it was a step in the right direction and a heartening sign. The world could use a good mother.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard