IMAGO DEI

Bearing His Image

A Long-Term Art Initiative Rooted in a Biblical Worldview

IMAGO DEI – Bearing His Image is a long-term art initiative founded by artists Xieda Wang and Chuyun Liu. Rooted in a biblical worldview, the initiative is expressed through art retreats, exhibitions, public art, education, publications, and cross-cultural collaborations. It explores the relationship between art, faith, culture, and human vocation while inviting people into a deeper engagement with God, creation, and one another.

At the heart of Imago Dei is the biblical truth that every human being is created in the image of God. We believe humanity was created to know God, love Him, glorify Him, and faithfully participate in His cultural calling. Through artistic practice, Imago Dei seeks to rediscover creation, life, culture, and human vocation, inviting people to reconsider their relationships with God, themselves, one another, and the created world.

Sin has distorted every aspect of human life, including our relationships, our understanding of beauty, and our creative capacities. Only through Jesus Christ can humanity be reconciled to God and, through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, gradually restored toward God’s original purpose for human life. While art itself cannot redeem, it is one of God’s good gifts of common grace entrusted to all humanity. For those who have been redeemed by Christ, art becomes a faithful response to God’s grace, an expression of worship, and an important means of participating in His cultural mission.

For Christians, Imago Dei seeks to recover a distinctly biblical understanding and practice of art within the life of the Church and its cultural calling. Beyond knowing truth intellectually, we believe art teaches us to see, to contemplate, to create, and to respond faithfully. Through artistic practice, believers are invited to know the Creator more deeply through His creation, bear witness to the Redeemer within culture, and participate with renewed lives in God’s continuing work of renewing all things.

For those who have not yet encountered Christ, we hope that art may become both a bridge and a place of encounter between the Church and the world. As a gift of God’s common grace, art has the unique capacity to awaken wonder, reveal truth, cultivate beauty, and invite honest reflection on life, identity, dignity, belonging, and purpose. Through encounters with art, with others, and with authentic human experience, hearts may gradually become open to truth. We pray that, through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, many will be drawn toward the gospel and discover the hope that is found in Jesus Christ.

Imago Dei is therefore both a long-term artistic initiative and an ongoing series of art retreats, inviting people into a shared journey of artistic practice, spiritual reflection, and cultural engagement. Through art, we seek to cultivate renewed relationships with creation, culture, community, and ultimately with God Himself. In Christ, we learn to see the world through God’s eyes, to bear His image more faithfully, and to respond with our whole lives to His work of creation, redemption, and renewal.

Rooted in a biblical worldview, Imago Dei seeks to rediscover and embody the God-given purpose of art within His work of creation and redemption. We hope to equip believers for faithful cultural engagement while creating welcoming spaces where people from every background may encounter truth, beauty, and hope through Christ. Together, we long to participate in God’s continuing work of creation, redemption, and the renewal of all things.