Artist Abraham Lozoff
Accession number 1987-261
The story of Lot and his daughters is one of the most surprising and shocking stories to be found in the Bible. While probably intended primarily as an unflattering origin story for the Ammonites and Moabites, two traditional enemies of the Israelites, the story can be interpreted as an example of the moral dilemmas faced by those forced into extreme situations, including migration. Having fled the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters, believing themselves to be the only people to have survived and in order to have offspring, make their father drunk in order to have sex with him, thereby becoming pregnant. The story is the final straw in a series of bad decisions made by the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family, that lead to or follow the destruction of the cities. As a result, Sodom and Gomorrah become bywords for sin throughout the rest of scripture. Therefore, these stories serve as a warning as to what can occur when morality is overlooked in situations of extremis.
Lozoff creates a work that is sensual in nature whilst also being crowded and cramped in ways that suggest the characters’ awareness of their sin. Being carved from the same piece of wood, the figures are tightly-packed into a confined rectangular space yet, while being together in flagrante, they are, none of them, looking at each other, as though aware of the shameful nature of their actions.
