Inspired By Dante

Reading Dante, A Self Portrait
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Artist's Statement


In 1994, I began a journey into a strange wood that would change my life forever. It has been a journey that has led my mind and heart along a path of suffering and pain to eventual hope and joy. So many others have taken this same journey. Our guide has been the 14th century poet Dante Alighieri, who through his poem, "The Divine Comedy," describes his own pilgrimage through hell, purgatory and paradise.


My journey began with an old Harvard Classic edition of the Comedy that I found in my parents library. Years later, I now find myself with 18 large formal drawings inspired by the vivid and engaging journey Dante describes. I also have created 7 interactive steel sculptures entitled, "The Seven Deadly Sins." I plan to complete the work, finishing with Paradise. I estimate that, when completed, I will have approximately 30 drawings.


“I am drawn to the perennial quality of the Divine Comedy. It is a masterpiece of Humanity and the human condition. Dante examines the concepts of free will and consequence, and I find these themes to be as pertinent to the twentieth century as it must have been in the fourteenth.”


In my work, I invite the viewers to take a visual journey through the "Divine Comedy." It is a journey where one will meet with souls who are subject to eternal damnation and torture in hell, like those in the Wood of the Suicide, where the souls, having denied themselves their body while living, fall to hell and take the form of gnarled and twisted trees. One can meet the souls upon the mountain of Purgatory who circle about in prayer seeking penance. The Prideful must bear the burden of their earthly pride in the form of a stone slab which forces them to crawl and strain forward in their quest for salvation. Another dramatic scene illuminates Dante’s fearful passage from Purgatory to Paradise. He must pass through a wall of flames. Virgil, his mentor and guide, reaches his hand for Dante, offering encouragement and reassurance. These are my images and they are more than illustrations. They challenge the viewer to look inward at his or her own life. They stir emotions deep within, for many see reflections of their own lives in the anonymous faces of Dante’s souls. The artwork, when exhibited, has received visitor comments that include sentiments such as: “to touch another soul...no menial task” and “ nearly without words to express the emotions I felt...”


Numerous translations of the Italian poem are available and many have illustrations included. Most artwork created for the "Divine Comedy" is either highly illustrative or very abstract. My drawings, though they are steeped in symbolism derived from the poem, follow the spirit of Dante’s’ philosophy in relationship to twenty-first century. Because of the universal nature of Dante’s themes, (morality, free will and consequence,) the contemporary drawings work to form a bridge from Dante’s 14th century journey to our life today. These topics have become quite prevalent in today’s world as we have begun a new century. The response I have received from my work, thus far, has been enormous. The drawings have been featured in "ArtsIndiana" magazine, PBS’s "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly," displayed at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design in New York. Columbia University offers the drawings on the World Wide Web via their Digital Dante site.

The drawings will be exhibited in Cortona, Italy October 14-31, 2006. The drawings are exhibited in non-commercial venues and are appropriate for university galleries and regional museums. I also enjoy the opportunity to lecture when asked. Most importantly, from my perspective, the work has not only attracted attention from those close to the art world, but the response by the general public has been most favorable. To reach into the heart and mind of another soul can be of no greater joy and is a humbling experience.

About the Artist


Jennifer Strange lives and works in Indianapolis. Her work from "The Divine Comedy" has received national attention and has been exhibited in New York, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and numerous exhibitions. In 2006 it will travel for exhibition in Rome and Cortona, Italy.

It has also been featured on the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,in Arts Indiana magazine and Columbia University’s Digital Dante website. She welcomes the opportunity to speak about her work and recent lectures include Bucknell University, Boston College, University of Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, The University of Notre Dame, Purdue University and Indiana University.

Jennifer earned her M.F.A. in painting and drawing from the University of Georgia and B.A. from Indiana University. She studied in Italy during both her undergraduate and graduate studies. She has taught Art History at Butler University. She has also taught studio arts courses for Indiana University. The work on the "Inspired by Dante" series is on-going.
jstrangestudio@gmail.com

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