The Beginning of Miracles: XV 1953

Curator: Here we have Corita Kent's screenprint from 1953, titled "The Beginning of Miracles: XV." The beige background feels almost like a blank page on which a story is trying to unfold. Editor: My first thought is ethereal. The pale ochre figures layered on a cream backdrop gives a light airy impression, as if moments are struggling to materialize. Curator: The limited palette certainly creates that sense of transience. I'm particularly interested in how Kent uses layering. Look at the way shapes seem to coalesce, forming recognizable, albeit abstracted, figures and architectural forms. It suggests the interplay between chaos and order, potentiality and actuality. Editor: Totally. Like memories emerging from a haze, trying to make sense of fragments. The subtle variations in tone, ochre on beige—the tension almost becomes tangible as Kent presents you with what might be figures congregating. What do you make of that possible street scene on the top right corner? Curator: Excellent point. The inclusion of these very recognisable, mundane details amidst the abstract gestures anchors the work. It gives some of these amorphous shapes and structures the feeling of human activity and hints at something narrative. See how those architectural hints at the top border create a frieze. Editor: The feeling of things still coalescing also gets to me. Maybe the beginning of a demonstration, the murmur before a revolution? The low tonal range does give a soft yet evocative resonance to an emergent moment of community building. Curator: Kent's work often integrates text and image to challenge viewers and I see textual hints here—a trace of text just at the lower central part. While abstract, it all feels imbued with intention, almost like visual theology where everything resonates with meaning even if those meanings remain oblique. Editor: Well said. Thinking about miracles implies the everyday bursting with divine potential. These humble, barely-there shapes transform a plain piece of paper. It’s like she’s making miracles accessible, immediate. A quiet assertion, wouldn't you agree? Curator: Yes, an articulation of those miracle in the process of being. I suppose I'll never look at beige the same way again. Editor: Me neither! Thank you, Corita.