After researching the various Christian relics that are still very much worshiped today, despite most of them being discredited, I began to think about the various places that claim to own pieces of these relics. After some further research I found that various churches claimed to have the same relics in their possession. St Thomas's doubting finger is supposedly simultaneously home to 4 churches! I found this very interesting as it made me wonder how these Christians can still worship a relic that is clearly not the real body part, perhaps they are aware of the many different fingers, but they may have hope that the particular finger that they are worshiping is that of Thomas; the others must be fabricated then?

Looking specifically at the finger of Saint Thomas, I have found that the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, San Tommaso in Parione, San  Thome Basilica and Basilica di San Tommaso Apostolo all claim to have the doubting finger of Thomas! Now clearly Thomas had 10 fingers so why would it be strange for just 4 of them to be shown as relics? That is because the only finger that came into contact with Christ's wound (his right index finger) was of religious importance. This is expressed in Caravaggio's The incredulity of Saint Thomas 1601. Thomas doubts that Jesus has been resurrected, so to prove that this was a fact, Thomas placed his finger inside Jesus' wound, a wound that was inflicted by a Roman guard before his death. 

Kuksi grew up in a rural and secluded area when growing up (as stated in his biography). His work is almost an explosion of the development of the industrial world. His work comments on the fragility of mankind and our obsession with materiality. His sculpture of many intricate parts assembled together, is an 'orchestral-like seamless cohesion that defines the historical rise and fall of civilization and envisions the possible future(s) of humanity.' 

In relation to my project, I think that this work is really quite inspiring to my idea of creating relics. The thought of creating complex sculptures that tell a story is quite exciting; I could do this in a series of intricate and ostentatious sculptures that fit together like a puzzle. This could echo the puzzle that is the remains of the Christian relics. Further research into the decoration of reliaquarys (decorations for relics) as perhaps I can make a collage of this imagery to inspire a sculpture of my own. As I've said in an earlier post, when researching the British museum, it seems that the more decorative the reliaquary, the higher its importance. Baring this is mind, I could create a relic themed sculpture that's decor is reflected in importance. I may begin with the relic of Saint Thomas's doubting finger (of which there are 4) create 4 of my own and quadruple the decoration in correspondence to the importance of the finger being so grand that there must be 4 of them!