Don’t Look Back was a site-specific sculptural installation conceived for the Philippus Kirschsaal in the context of Lindenow X, Leipzig, Germany in October 2014.

The point of departure was a re-examination of the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom. In the story God spares Lot’s family from the complete annihilation of  Sodom with one caveat; that they don’t look back at the city they are leaving behind. Lot’s wife does and she is instantly turned to a pillar of salt. As a child I had taken the meaning of the story to be a cautionary tale about the perils of disobeying God’s will. To be honest the punishment always seemed a bit harsh after-all isn’t it human nature to look backwards when faced with an uncertain future? If, however, one is to look at the story as a cautionary tale perhaps it becomes a parable about not being paralyzed by one’s painful past? There can of course be no forward movement if one is forever looking backward and reliving past regrets and pain. For me the clue to this interpretation of the story lies in how God chose to punish her. He could have eviscerated her or chosen painful death but instead he chose to turn her into a giant immovable object; paralyzed but also made of a material that over time and weather would simply wash away into nothing but a poisoned, infertile, dead sea –a place inhospitable to future growth.

The sculptural form is made of steel stretching 13 meters upward towards the massive chandelier with a single strand of 10 meters of wool upon which salt crystals have grown, diagonally slicing through the center of the metal structure.  Elsewhere in the church are two smaller companion sculptures composed of wire ‘building blocks’ (with salt growth) echoing the chemical structures of salt at the elemental level.

Don’t Look Back was realized in cooperation with Бükü – Office for Cultural Translations and Philippus Leipzig and with kind support by U.S. Consul General Leipzig.