Divine Violence — Broomberg & Chanarin

Deuteronomy, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 755mm x 1415mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Ecclesiastes, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 425mm x 315mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Exodus, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1085mm x 1195mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Ezekiel, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1085mm x 1195mm Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Ezra, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1085mm x 535mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Genesis, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1447mm x 1123mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Jeremiah, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1085mm x 1415mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Proverbs, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1085mm x 535mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, Londo

Psalms, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 1893mm x 2117mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Revelations, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 788mm x 789mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Ruth, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 567mm x 457mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

Song of Songs, Divine Violence, 2013, King James Bible, Hahnemühle print, brass pins, 567mm x 457mm, Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London

DIVINE VIOLENCE

“Right from the start, almost every appearance he made was catastrophic… Catastrophe is his means of operation, and his central instrument of governance."

Adi Ophir

Violence, calamity and the absurdity of war are recorded extensively within The Archive of Modern Conflict, the largest photographic collection of its kind in the world. For their most recent work, Holy Bible, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin mined this archive with philosopher Adi Ophir’s central tenet in mind: that God reveals himself predominantly through catastrophe and that power structures within the Bible correlate with those within modern systems of governance.

The format of Broomberg and Chanarin’s illustrated Holy Bible mimics both the precise structure and the physical form of the King James Version. By allowing elements of the original text to guide their image selection, the artists explore themes of authorship, and the unspoken criteria used to determine acceptable evidence of conflict.

Inspired in part by the annotations and images Bertolt Brecht added to his own personal bible, Broomberg and Chanarin’s publication questions the clichés at play within the visual representation of conflict.

Download the full PDF of Divine Violence by Adi Ophir

MACK Books

Installation shots