A Dark Wood

"Midway this life we're bound upon,

I woke to find myself in a dark wood,

Where the right road was wholly lost and gone"

-Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

A Dark Wood explores the theme of being lost in the darkness of our fears, doubts and negativity. Dante Alighieri, the 14th century Italian poet, began The Divine Comedy with a character who has lost his way in "a dark wood." It is a metaphor not only for a crisis of faith, but a crisis of humanity. He has lost his spiritual compass, even how to be with and treat people. His character must survey the punishments of Dante's taxonomy of evil before he is able to find a way to even a dim light of hope. There are many aspects of the dark wood and the artists presented in this exhibition interpret the richness of the concept through a range of media and methods.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.