Jonah and the Big Fish

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Construction: The base is 2’ x 4’. The Big Fish is 3’ long x 18” wide by 18” high at the widest point; its tail is 12” long. Jonah is a 12”-high wood manikin.

Materials and Techniques: The base was spray-painted with green American Accents Stone Creations texturized paint to represent the ocean. Fabric waves, stiffened with double-sided fusible Pellon 72, adorn the base. A gold Shiva paint stick added glitter to the waves.

The Big Fish is formed out of papier mâché, constructed over a wire and mesh armature. Its inside was coated with Sculptamold, then painted with pinkish-grey American Accents Stone Creations spray paint. The scales are overlapping scallops of yellow, orange, and pinkish-orange packcloth. Its tail and two fins are Angelina fibers, with yarn inclusions; its eyes are made of Model Magic, a flexible, air-dry material. The pupils are rhinestone ornaments. Its teeth are Model Magic, painted with pearlescent Jacquard paint.

Jonah’s table and stool are made of Model Magic, painted with Jacquard pearlescent paint, to resemble coral. A Model-Magic fish skeleton forms the tabletop. The seat of the stool is a sea shell. Jonah is dressed in modern clothes. His head and hair are molded Creative paper clay, painted with Jacquard paint. Aquarium seaweed is strewn on the floor.

THE INSPIRIATION AND INTENTION:

Another meditation, another image: Jonah and the Big Fish. According to the story told in the Book of Jonah, G-d commands Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the king and his people that they are leading wicked lives and must change their ways or they will be destroyed. Jonah doesn’t want to go—who would? He fears to speak Truth to Evil. He flees his task and G-d on a ship, which is soon beset by a terrible storm. After casting lots, to save themselves the sailors reluctantly throw Jonah overboard. “A great fish” (not a whale) swallows him. He survives three days and three nights in the belly of the beast, during which time he repents and begs forgiveness from G-d. G-d hears his prayers, and Jonah is spewed up on dry land. He goes to Nineveh, prophesizes the pending demise of the people if they do not change their ways. Much to his surprise, the people repent. Rather than being happy about this, Jonah is angry because it will look like he was wrong in his prophecy; G-d then teaches him a lesson about pity and the value of human life.

My image concentrates on Jonah in the belly of the beast, repenting. The tableau: from the outside, we see a pretty, whimsical fish, but on the inside, we see a dark, rough-sided cave. Jonah, dressed in modern clothes to indicate that he represents Everyman/woman, sits at an improvised table made out of coral and a dead fish. Jonah is writing a letter: “Dear God, Forgive me for fleeing from the task you gave me. Yours truly, Jonah.”

Questions are raised: Are you (the witness to the scene), like Jonah, afraid to speak Truth to Power? Is there some task that G-d has given you that you flee from? Where do you hide when you flee from you life’s task? What happens when you run away? What do you repent? Of what do you ask to be forgiven?

Far from being malign, the Big Fish shelters Jonah and gives him time to rethink his behavior. Sometimes we need to escape, to rest, to go inward into the darkness/the interior/the belly of the beast in order to see how we have fled from our true calling….