Catching Dewdrops

Catching Dewdrops Commentary by Gianna French Cite Share Show Bible Passage Ecclesiastes 9:11–12 reminds us of the limits of our knowing. In Qoheleth’s reflections which call us at once to joy and then to cynicism, we are confronted with the absurdity and the fleeting nature of life. We are all, despite any personal merit of strength, virtue, or skill, subject to the whims of chance. Tragedy strikes suddenly, often afflicting good and innocent people. Yet we demand answers, clarity, and resolution. Contemporary society often turns to photography as a means to capture and understand things, but what happens when it fails us? American artist Jessina Leonard tests this theory in her project First Sweet Truth, which explores our inherent desire and consequent failure to capture the ineffable. Armed with her camera, she returns year after year to a site of historical and spiritual significance: a Cistercian convent in Eisleben, Germany, where three female mystics, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Mechthild of Hackeborn, and Gertrude of Helfta detailed their experiences of divine connection in the late thirteenth century, in some of the earliest surviving literature by women in the West. Through this investigation, Leonard creates a visual language for our longing, a collection of images to serve as companions to these mystical texts, namely a resting horse, a plate of honey, a shattered window, and a scarred wall—hallowed places and unlikely altars that mark revelations and manifestations. Through their sensory ripeness, we can almost reach out and run our fingers along the wall where Gertrude had her first vision. Untitled (Bee in Mouth) reminds me of gazing upwards during a heavy snowfall, catching snowflakes on my tongue. We find similar imagery in Gertrude’s work, a line of which reads ‘it was in the holy night, when the dew of divinity came down, shedding sweetness over all the earth, and the heavens were melting, made sweet like honey’ (Gertrude of Helfta 1993: 104). This image is a mere shadow of a once-intimate encounter that leans into the tension, and almost excitement, of what lies just beyond our grasp. Leonard’s work encourages us, in the face of uncertainty, to adopt a posture of expectancy: that we might tilt our heads upwards, and stick out our tongues. Through these images of in-betweens, she reminds us not to underestimate the magic that lies in speculation. References Gertrude of Helfta. 1993. The Herald of Divine Love, trans. by Margaret Winkworth (New York: Paulist Press) Leonard, Jessina. 2023. ‘First Sweet Truth: 2019–2023, 2023’, https://jessinaleonard.com/First-Sweet-Truth [accessed 15 January 2025]