Divine Light 

Sarah Joncas created this intriguing painting titled, Divine Light. In this work, Joncas plays with the idea of iconography and femininity. She places a modern woman within a composition reminiscent of religious portraiture, complete with a halo, but replaces traditional symbols with decorative lights. These lights, often associated with festive or domestic spaces, act as a crown, highlighting tensions between the sacred and the everyday. This woman's gaze is directed upwards, inviting the viewer to contemplate the relationship between inner illumination and external expectations. Her serene expression evokes a sense of introspection, contrasting the conventional representations of women and encouraging us to consider the multifaceted nature of identity and self-perception. Joncas invites us to ponder the sources from which we draw our own ‘divine light,’ whether from societal constructs or from a deeply personal sense of self.