You are invited to attend “Encounters with Descent” an evening of poetry and prose on Thursday May 23 at 7 pm, held in parallel to the current exhibition On the Human Comedyat Mina Image Centre. Participating writers include Laura Johanna Braverman, Angela Brussel, Nadine Makarem, Amy Todman, Nur Turkmani, and Afaf Zurayk.

On the Human Comedy holds at its heart a poem from 1321 – Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Over 600 years later, the artist Salvador Dali responded to these verses with 100 watercolor paintings that were transferred to wood engravings. These haunting and lyrical images illustrate the journey of the soul’s transformations after death: darkness in hell, then suffering and growth in purgatory, before a meeting with light in paradise.

Now – another seven decades on, since Dali created these images, five artists respond in turn with their own visual and conceptual works, and poets with their words. The poetic and artistic depictions of the descent to hell and the limbo-land of purgatory can kindle comparisons to some of the dark realities present today. The world is besieged by tragedies on varying levels that can leave one feeling overwhelmed and powerless.

Each artist/poet processes these actualities differently – making creative connections and responding in their own unique way, whether through work created specifically for the occasion of this exhibit, or by providing past explorations that resonate with the ideas at hand. All of these expressions can provide possible methods of coping, and hopefully transform a sense of powerlessness.