TRUTH | Dadaism

DADAISM

Dana Pettit

found trash and glue

40 x 60”

 

At the time I approached creating the sculpture, I was struck by the fragmented pieces of discarded trash, which reminded me of the brokenness so many experience, especially those who reject God. Many turn away not from a lack of faith, but due to religious trauma, fractured relationships, and guilt or shame.

In the spirit of Dadaism, this sculpture—assembled from discarded objects—embodies the gospel: Jesus came for the lost, the broken, the seemingly useless. Like the scattered pieces, we may feel shattered or discarded by society, but God's will is that none should perish. He didn’t call me because I was perfect, but because He loves me—and He loves us all, no matter how far we’ve gone or how fragmented we seem.

Jesus left the 99 to find the one who strayed—and twelve years ago, that was me. In a world that often rejects the broken, His love embraces us, inviting us to be made whole again through Him.

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish”. Matthew 18:12-14