Project Seven

Gravity and Grace

Simone Weil was a philosopher, mystic and political activist born in France on 3 February 1909. She died at the tender age of 34 on 24 August 1943.

Her writings are often dark and mysterious, rich and brooding where she explores different aspects of the human condition.

This project focuses particularly on her her book Gravity and Grace.

Weil proposes that there are two natural laws in the universe

Gravity

and

Grace.

Gravity is all about the downward movement of things, the basic instincts that pull humans apart, the physical certainties that eclipse our lives.

Grace is the mysterious antidote, which Weil describes as ‘feeding on light’. It is the upward movement on wings that lift. It is ‘falling upward’, a concept difficult to grasp.

In this project I will be exploring how the different aspects of gravity and grace can be represented in visual form taken from Weil’s description in her writings.

In exploring both Gravity and Grace I hope to find greater connection to both myself and those around me, to those close at hand and far away.