Freedom of Religion, Belief and Opinion

Dina Cormick uses the compositional form of a circle - token of unity and harmony, which is also an ancient religious symbol. Her highly detailed, narrative image depicts a diverse group of people engaged in various religious activities such as praying, preaching, meditating, making offerings. The attempt to be as inclusive as possible becomes evident in the wide range of different religions depicted by the individuals' stereotypical poses of worship and an almost encyclopaedic array of religious symbols. Some figures, however, don't seem to follow any religion. They are deliberately included to express the artist's conviction that freedom of religion also means the freedom not to follow any belief system.

Text from Images of Human Rights Portfolio, 1996, by the Images of Human Rights Trust (ISBN 0-620-20801-5)