How artist Devon Spier found spiritual meaning through affliction

About this episode

Devon Spier discusses her journey through long COVID and how it influenced her art and spirituality.

Devon Spier has long COVID. The artist, poet and spiritual guide has spent days bedridden, feeling ill and angry at God. But that forced pause gave her time to reflect on her life, art and beliefs, and she began to realize more emphatically how God, for her, exists in liminal spaces—in the wilderness, in small moments of peace and beauty between devastation and pain. These thoughts led her to create a new exhibit that blends art, design, poetry and spirituality. "18 Plus One" is on display at the Gerrard Art Space in Toronto from Oct 2 - 9, ahead of a fuller exhibit at the JCC Ann Arbor in Michigan from December 2024 to February 2025. Spier joins Ralph Benmergui—who is, like Spier, also not a rabbi but kind of vaguely close to one—on Not That Kind of Rabbi for a fulsome conversation about artistic expression, humanistic empathy and the meaning of God.

People in this episode

Host: Ralph Benmergui

Guest: Devon Spier

Topics covered

• long COVID
• spirituality
• art
• poetry
• humanistic empathy

Keywords

• God
• liminal spaces
• artistic expression
• exhibit
• 18 Plus One

Mentioned in this episode

Products: 18 Plus One

Books & works: 18 Plus One

Places: Toronto, Michigan

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