Creating sacred spaces: A study of storyworld building

Stairways and Ruins

Abstract

This article reflects on artworks that Colette Lotz produced for the Stairways and Ruins exhibition. The article is structured along the lines of pre-production, production, and post-production as the practice-led methodological approach. The works were made using photographs of clouds and other structures taken by the artist and main author,1 and rendered digitally into symmetrical reflections. T hus, s acred s paces w ere c reated – t he w orks p redominantly show skyscapes and are therefore “celestial”. Because of this structuring of the works, the imagery becomes abstract and otherworldly, appearing like Rorschach Inkblot tests. We relate the works to sacred spaces as storyworlds. The term storyworld stresses the constructive and imaginative nature of the works.