My credo

My credo

In the Name of the Cloak


More than seven billion people inhabit this planet. They are all breathing with us, at this very moment. People of all races, religions, customs and lifestyles share the oxygen of this room and the sun that is right outside. These men and women are thousands of kilometers away from us, yet, sitting right beside us. It is not only the air that unites us; we are all inhabitants of this earth that we call home, even though we violate it every day. These are difficult but, at the same time, marvelous times. Today we have, for the first time in the history of humanity, the possibility to connect our hearts and our hopes, creating together the journey that we desire for tomorrow’s world. We can already smell the scent of a new way of living and seeing the world: the signs are everywhere, but they need something to take hold of them and make them shine. We just have to react and to transform the seeds of change into a better tomorrow for everyone.
Can we really change the world around us and awaken our conscience? It seems impossible, not within our reach. Even trying seems Utopian and un-historic. However, I took up the challenge with the creation of my Cloak of Conscience, carved into 250 tons of white marble from the famous Michelangelo quarry in Carrara, the largest single block ever transformed into sculpture. It is difficult to shift, just like the convictions that govern our actions every day. It is as heavy as the debts that we have towards the world and towards people who are less fortunate than we are, and who are forced to pay the price of our abuse.
Every stroke of the chisel was a challenge and an effort, made possible only by the knowledge and consciousness of what would become later. A work of art that required deep conviction and the dedication to an onerous, selfless and prolonged effort. A way of reasoning that is far from the majority of our political class. Perhaps it was madness even to think about it. However, it is here today, to demonstrate that an idea is stronger than any block of marble and any impossible challenge.
A sculpture shaped like a cathedral, five meters high, sculpted also in its interior in order to create a place of peace, allowing us to connect to our profound inner self. It is the Cloak that Saint Martin ripped to share with a beggar, an icon of the generosity of which man is capable, if only he discovers the immense richness hidden behind the act of giving.
The walls and interior may look bare, but are full of what really matters. What will happen to us once we leave this world? Some would say that nothing remains except for things and belongings that we leave behind: An empty Cloak. Yet the love, the compassion, the good deeds that we have given in this world, our ideals and gifts, fill our existence without the shadow of our material world. This is the Cloak: a place to recover our universal conscience, filling its walls with everything that moves our soul. The conscience, today and forever, is the only possible answer to the greatest problems of humankind: money shifts, whereas ideas multiply and settle in our conscience.
We must learn to inspire and let ourselves be inspired.
Art can do that because it speaks a universal language that goes beyond any boundary, conflict and fear. It is made of that fragile, precious material that makes our existence more than just the succession of days and years. Through art, we can hear the part of infinity hidden inside each of us whispering, and we manage to see something higher and marvelous, that we can call Beauty. That incredible, disarming force is released when things are in their place. That mystery of order and harmony capable of giving meaning to our existence, that lets us contemplate creation in ecstasy. Salvation will come to the world through people who can see beauty in everything. Thanks to the action, determination and courage of these people others will follow to reveal this world as a place of peace and harmony.
To honor these exceptional beings we have created the “Chromy Awards”. The Laureates have decided to dedicate their lives to the dream of a better future for all, giving others new eyes to see the Beauty and Hope often hidden in the folds of our multifaceted world, reflected in those of my Cloak. They inspire millions of people to act, giving proof that there is always an alternative, even in the darkest moments. They are the ones who remind us that during the night, the darkest moment is the one that precedes the dawn.
This is the conscience that we need to give to the billions of human beings that will come to this earth after us – a world to be embraced – , in order to preserve it and consign it to our successors. The Cloak of Conscience is the symbol of that quest for the meaning of life, of that responsibility that we have towards the earth and those living on it, a concept further developed in my “Chromatology” series of paintings.
It is enough to stop for a moment and remind ourselves that more than seven billion people are breathing with us, right now, to understand that together we can change the world, – In the Name of the Cloak.


Anna Chromy