Chapel Hill’s United Church exhibits ‘Moral Monday’ art

In the wake of recent legislation by the North Carolina General Assembly, the United Church of Chapel Hill is staging its own form of artistic protest.

The exhibit, “Forward Together!: Images of Moral Mondays,” showcases the struggle of North Carolina’s Moral Monday protesters over a variety of aesthetic disciplines.

The protests were in response to the legislation passed in the General Assembly throughout 2013 pertaining to social issues, such as voting rights, cuts to social programs and public education reform.

“The images are really affecting — pictures of people being loaded up to go to prison,” said Rev. Jill Edens, a pastor at the church. “It’s a validation for those involved.”

Edens has been a pastor at the United Church of Chapel Hill since 1979, and she was one of the more than 1,000 Moral Monday protesters arrested this past year.

“This was a very hard decision for me,” Edens said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had so much as a library fine in my life, but as a Christian I felt so strongly to care for the poor, I felt I had to protest.”

Eden leads the church’s congregation with her husband, Rev. Richard Edens, who was also arrested for his participation in the protests.

“The actions of our general legislature over this past year have been ones of exclusion,” Richard Edens said. “We wanted to stand up and say that’s not our story. We wanted to stand united in our faith.”

The Edens have since worked with painters, photographers and writers to create an exhibit to help the public understand what the protests are about.

“We’ve had amazing turnouts for the protests,” said David Otto, the photographer featured in the show. “It was just very important to me to photograph these events as they go on.”

Otto is a long time member of the United Church of Chapel Hill, and he has been an active voice against recent actions of the legislature. He was arrested alongside Jill Edens in June.

Otto said his goal in photographing the nine rallies was to capture the widespread objections to the General Assembly.

He has taken more than 800 photographs of the protests, which he shared with the exhibit’s featured oil painter, David Taylor, to serve as inspiration for his art.

“I’ve done nine paintings based on David Otto’s photos,” Taylor said. “They’re all of ordinary people responding to speakers, and I try to show their issues on their faces, to show their real horror at some of the policies that have been passed.”

The photographs and paintings in the exhibit will be accompanied by narratives written by contributing artist Harry Phillips, which will explore the meaning behind the art itself.

“It’s important, I think, that we undo many of the policies that the legislature’s put into effect,” Taylor said. “To do that we need people to understand what the issues are. That’s what this is about. Letting the legislature know what people are really thinking.”

arts@dailytarheel.com