Heather Ward Miles

The Noah Series is a group of work that I created during the 2020-2021 pandemic. I focused on the Flood and the Noah stories as well as the information on privilege, race, gender and environment discussed in the RSA lectures. The large paintings allow the audience to connect with the universal fragility of the human condition. 

“Microparticles. Hope we can buuld our arks out of single use plastics and without a word of guidance from God”. Abstract image of vibrant pastel colors forming globular shapes.
“Salvation. With an ancient blueprint we build our privilege like an ark. Weep white water, and add to the pools at the knees of people we would call friends. #atleastontheinternet. Buoy ourselves without own hurt feelings and board that damned boat…
“The Seed Collector. I protect the outside, at the expense of what’s within. Harvest ways to disarm, manage and comfort man. Not let the flood take more than I can give. So tired of being the art, the wife, the collector of the seeds and his sins.” …

During these unprecedented times, I am so grateful to be part of the RSA program this year. The RSA program and the exploration of the Noah story has fit in perfectly with the events that have taken place through the pandemic and the social justice movement in 2020. The lectures and discussions in the program have heavily influenced my 2020-2021 work, and although I have included 4 paintings in the official Noah Series, I feel I have made 20 paintings that could be included. I was particularly interested in the Noah story and how it relates to the environment/climate change (Microparticles), the BLM movement/the election (Salvation), Noah’s wife/gender roles (The Seed Collector), and lastly to the large amount of death found both in the Noah story and in the 2020 pandemic (Death). Climate change and environmentalism is something that is already pervasive in my work. I’ve created many pieces addressing the environmental collapse that is occurring due to human life on the planet. I created many pieces during 2020 and into 2021 that have addressed environmental flooding as well as water pollution. Microparticles addresses both of those concerns and relates the overall hopelessness of humans who want to continue without science and without God. Salvation addresses race and privilege, another recurrent theme in my work. The painting swaps key players in the Noah Story for modern characters in white privilege. God becomes the white narrative, the ark becomes white privilege, and Noah becomes an embodiment of white fragility. The Seed Collector addresses gender issues and gender roles both in the Noah story and in modern life. Noah’s wife was responsible for collecting the seeds to replant the earth. I use this idea to compare the responsibilities of women in modern life, the expectation of beauty and the enormous amount of servitude that comes with stereotypical gender roles. The final painting, Death, is my attempt to come to terms with the idea of death and loss both in my general life and in the time of a pandemic. Death is deeply personal and reflective of my own belief system. It relates to the Noah story by acknowledging that I overlooked the massive amount of death that took place in the Noah story and in the pandemic. A form of denial that illustrates my resistance to accepting death as a part of life.

About Heather Ward Miles

H. Ward Miles is an Indianapolis-based contemporary painter dedicated to the bright beauty of life. Her work has been in the Indianapolis International Airport, Clowes Memorial Hall, Lost Dog gallery, and in hundreds of homes throughout the world. For more about Ward Miles’ work, please see her website at: www.hwardmiles.com.