Perfect | Jesus's Wounded Hand | Christian Wall Art by Mark Mabry
Perfect | Jesus's Wounded Hand | Christian Wall Art by Mark Mabry
About Perfect
A note from Mark Mabry
An anxious collector texted me on Easter Sunday. His three-year-old grandson had hit their large canvas with a Sticky Wall Walker during the family party. They tried to remove the red goo gently. They ruined the canvas instead. We got them a new one, but I gave him one piece of advice. Save that old canvas. You might like it better than the new one someday.
When I was eight I gnawed on the lid of my parents' new piano with my two bucky incisors. Thirty-five years later, when we moved to Nashville, my parents gave me that piano. My mom told me that the year before, dad had almost let the tuner refinish out the marks. Then he ran his hand over the bucky beaver teeth and told the tuner no.
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see." Luke 24:39.
On Resurrection Day the disciples did not fixate on the new perfect body. They fixated on the wounds. The scars were the proof. The scars were the love.
BEHOLD MY HANDS AND MY FEET.
This is that hand. A right hand from a white sleeve, the wound visible in the palm, square format, black and white, pure white background. Nothing else in the frame because nothing else is needed.
For the same black-and-white register on the full risen figure of Christ, see Resurrection.
The hand is still open. He is still offering both.
Common questions
What scene does Perfect depict?
The moment in Luke 24:39 and John 20:27 when the risen Christ offers His hands to be seen and touched. The image holds only the hand. The body, the face, the room are out of frame on purpose.
Is Perfect a painting?
It is a photograph. Black and white, square format, the white robe and the white background blending into a single quiet field. The hand is the only thing the eye has to land on.
Why is Perfect in black and white?
Color would have explained too much. The wound carries the meaning. The black and white treatment lets the hand stay the whole picture.
Where does Perfect look best in a home?
Most often in a quiet corner. A hallway, a bedside, or a small wall by a door. The image asks for room around it and does not need to share a wall.
Who is Perfect for?
For the collector who wants the wounded hand on the wall without the whole Thomas narrative around it. For the home where one image carries the weight of an entire chapter.