the Sacrifice of Isaac

the Sacrifice of Isaac

About a year ago, I made an image called "Contemplating Issac" - it was not one of my better pieces, attempting to depict Abraham struggling with his resolve to sacrifice his own son, Issac, at the demand of God, to prove he feared and obeyed him. The image was done using a model shot I was not entirely thrilled with, and so riddled with textures it looked like a cartoon, with blood covering Abraham, who apparently did kill his son, despite the glaring inaccuracy the blood creates. In short, it was a slapped together image to make something just for the sake of it, and one that should have been left on the failure pile. One year later, the idea resurfaced with this one, and this time it focuses, in a rather abstract way, on Issac, the pawn in this Biblical mind game with a vengeful, sadistic God.

If you don't know the story from Genesis, God called upon Abraham to take his only son to a hill or mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Abraham didn't question it, and took his son to the mountain and prepared the altar. Just before Abraham took the knife to his son, God called it off and told Abraham to leave his son be, and now that he's proven his obedience and fear of God, he and his people will be blessed. It's a rather hateful and twisted story, no?

So this rather simple image, showing Isaac, and no sign of his father, depicts the true wielder of the knife - the invisible, unseen God, who twisted a figurative knife in Abraham to kill his own son, and then "blessed" his people by allowing them to wander in the desert for forty years.

I think the most powerful statement this story conveys is the danger of unsubstantiated beliefs, and religious convictions so often leads to violence and judgement. Abraham, like so many believers in the Bible today, never questioned the sanity and reason behind such a horrible command to commit murder on one's own son, and Isaac represents more than Abraham's son, he represents every innocent life destroyed in the name of religion and misguided faith.

This image can be seen as a before and after editing version on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MichaelBilottaPhotography

Model: Felix P.