2023 YEAR 6 FINALIST

'an infinite memory' 
makayla mcateer
st clare's catholic parish primary school, narellan vale
year 6

My artwork is based on the passage “The Birth of Christ” (Matthew 1:18-25). I used the technique of mosaicing, embedding multiple colours and textured tiles. To elevate Mary and Jesus I used soft neutral colours, surrounding them in brightness. I used several tones of pink for her veil, pink represents unconditional love, femininity and compassion. Neutrals for Mary’s natural features show calmness. I purposely chose not to include the features of eyes on Mary, to highlight the fact that one of Mary’s virtues “blind obedience” was to fully trust in God's plan for her.

Jesus is presented laying on Mary’s heart to depict their connection within a halo. The halo has a gold border surrounding it to symbolise that they are both royalty in the kingdom of God. The halo is open to show that Jesus’ will always be open to welcoming us into his kingdom.

The colours of the background represent the different emotions Mary would’ve felt throughout her journey as the mother of Jesus. Orange for agreement for when Mary said yes, yellow for hope when she visited Elizabeth, red to show her frustration at the Inn, blue to represent reliability and integrity, character traits of Mary. My connection to my artwork is the unconditional love Mum has for me showing reliability and integrity like Mary. Knowing what God has planned for me, I can follow with faith even if I don’t understand it.

View more of our Christmas Story Art Exhibition 2023 artworks by clicking on our young artists' names in the teal panel. Alternatively, click through our artworks below.

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