the unlikely orange

"faceless immigrants 1-13" mixed media collage (found papers, acrylic paint, glue) on hardcover bookboard november, 2018 gregory a. milinovich i know that this is a divisive subject, and i don't mean to divide.  in fact, my sincere hope would be to build and connect.  but as i continue to glue things together in a way that expresses what is going on in my soul, i cannot help but deal with some of the discord i find there recently.   the news has been full of stories about immigration, asylum-seekers, and how we maintain borders.  these are complicated issues, to be sure, but one of the ways that i find myself struggling as i process the things i see and hear (or sometimes try to avoid seeing and hearing), is to remember that we aren't just talking about an issue here.   when we start painting in broad strokes and speaking in swaths of generalities, we deal in issues and policies and i understood that conversation at that level is necessary and i

"behold" mixed media collage (found papers, glue, gesso on hardcover bookboard) october, 2018 gregory a. milinovich behold.  it's an imperative to stop and look.  sometimes we need that, don't we?  to stop and look?  sometimes i need to just behold.  to stop running at breakneck pace, and to pay attention to the rhythm of my breath, to the beating hearts are all around me, and to the presence of the holy everywhere.  "behold, i stand at the door and knock."  but i'm too busy to notice most of the time. and sometimes we need to stop and see what we are really doing.  i need to hear what the voice on the other side of the door is saying: hello?  you've been busy following your own agenda.  you've been busy reading the news and getting angry, or depressed, or numb.  you've been trying to distract yourself.  you've been demonizing the other, even though you aren't even listening.  behold.  look and see what weapons you a

""him/her" mixed media collage on hardcover book board (found papers, acryclic paint, glue) october, 2018 gregory a. milinovich "so God created humanity in the image of God; in the image of God they were created; male and female God created them." -genesis 1:27 so, if we are all created "in the image of God," what does that say about us?  about all of us?  and what does it say about God?  i think, as we learn to love our neighbors (and how we love our neighbors IS HOW WE LOVE GOD, according to 1 john 4:20-21), these are important questions for us to wrestle with.  when we read stories about separation of immigrant families; when we hear about mass shootings based on religion or race; when we are led to believe by the words and actions of our leaders that is okay to demonize, alienate, ostracise, generalize, stereotype, exclude or even execute those who are different than us, i think these are critically important questions, es