From The Intelligent Optimist
Winter 2017

T.O.L.E.R.A.N.C.E is a sculpture created by French sculptor and painter Guy Ferrer in 2004, in reaction to the preoccupying rise in religious tensions and the risk of a new clash of religions. The sculpture, that has been presented at exhibitions around the world, consists of 9 letters in bronze, each representing letters of the word “tolerance” and figures suggesting different spiritualities. Ferrer: “A word becomes meaningful because of all of its letters, each one indispensable and of equal importance to convey the meaning. In the same way, the different cultures and spiritual beliefs of our societies can live together in brotherhood and complete each other, in the knowledge of reciprocal respect and a bit of kindness. Mysterious and grave, my emissaries invite you to meet them, to respect their differences and the beliefs which they suggest. Together, and meeting on the same site, they speak to us of encounter and harmony, of peaceful completeness.” | Jurriaan Kamp