Catherine of Siena

Catherine of Siena reflects upon one of the most profound mystical experiences recorded in the Christian tradition: the exchange of hearts between Christ and the young Dominican tertiary. While praying with the words of Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," Catherine repeatedly begged the Lord to take from her all that was her own so that she might belong entirely to him. According to her own account, Christ appeared, opened her side, removed her heart, and departed. Later, while praying in the Dominican church in Siena, he returned holding a radiant human heart, placed it within her, and declared, "As I took your heart away, now I am giving you Mine, so that you can go on living with it forever." A scar remained as a lasting sign of the encounter.

Rather than treating this vision as an isolated miracle, the photograph reflects upon the Christian call to interior transformation. The exchange of hearts becomes the central metaphor of Catherine's life: that holiness is not merely the imitation of Christ, but a participation in his very life. Rendered through the language of contemporary photography while drawing upon the rich tradition of Christian iconography, the work invites viewers to contemplate what it means to surrender one's own desires so completely that the heart of Christ becomes the source of one's thoughts, actions, and love.

The ring upon Catherine's hand recalls her mystical marriage to Christ, when, according to tradition, the Virgin Mary presented her to the Lord, who pledged himself to her with an invisible wedding band as a sign of their eternal union. The wounds of the stigmata, received during prayer in 1375, further reveal a life so deeply united to Christ that even his suffering became mysteriously her own. Together these symbols point beyond extraordinary visions to the deeper reality they express: a soul wholly transformed by divine love.

The work suggests that the heart of the Christian life is not found in extraordinary mystical experiences themselves, but in the continual surrender through which Christ gradually forms his own heart within us.