The Psalmist (2018)

The term “Psalmist” refers to both the writer and reader of a psalm: a particularly poetic and musical form of Biblical literature that often expresses a prophetic aspect of Judeo-Christian theology. This work, completed during the summer before my second year at Ohio State, is a site-specific installation exhibited at a decommissioned Columbus City Public School. With this work, I critically examine the politics of contemplative prayer in relation to the primary school punishment ritual of repetition. Linguistically, I place the opening stanza from Kendrick Lamar’s song “Fear”, which poses the question: “Why God, Why God do I gotta suffer?/ Pain in my heart carries burdens full of struggle”, with the opening line from the penitential Psalm 51, which yearns: “Create in me a pure heart O God/ and renew a right spirit within me”.