We all should be taught since we are kids that we do have the weapons to fight evil. Before going combat you don’t put all the gear all at once, it’s a process and this process should start since we are little to prepare for harships of ‘’life’’ which has both good and evil.

I decided to named this 3 piece artwork: The Softness of the Hardship because I chose to represent the human being that has spiritual battles on a daily basis with stuffed animals. Stuffed Animals are linked to kids and childhood and even when we grow up, we all still have an inner child that we need to protect and never lose. Just like love is the opposite of hate, soft is the opposite of hard. And the essence of our hearts is soft, loving and pure just like a stuffed animal and in that essence that every child had, the Armour of God is found.

The Spiritual Battle of the selected passage is represented in this artwork with the stuffed animals standing for humans and the rest of elements in each pictuere symbolizing the spiritual battle.
In the teddy bear the ropes are pulling him away to symbolize the struggle between good and evil described in Ephesians 6:10-20. However, the teddy bear has his eyes cover with a mirror that has written down Christ since even between any battle that we may have, God is there and we never should take our sight away from Christ. In the donkey picture, the apple below it is a representation of all the sins and dark forces in the world. The stuffed animal is being pulled away from it by a rosary, sybolizing how God with His Armor protect us and take us away from what is not good for us, even when we might not like His ways (just like it seems the donkey is being hanged) but it is actually meaning that God has us and protects us.

Finally in the unicorn picture, you can see it is covered by lights. Lights here, represent the Armor of God from the head to our feet that is described in the passage. But even when we are protected the unseen forces of evil are real and in this picture they are depicted in the reflection of the mirror where you can see two hands coming from the dark This gives the impression that the devil's scheme is always around us trying to take us.

The stuffed animals have another meaning and goal in the artwork. They represent the full armor of God described in Ephesians 6: 13-17, which can be found as virtues in every child: truth (the belt of truth), rightneousness (the breast of rightneousness in place), readiness (with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace) , faith (In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one) , Salvation and Spirit (Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.) In conclusion, human essence is good, since we are kids we come with the armour of God within us, we just have to become conscious of it and learn as soon as possible to use the weapons to fight the spiritual battles.

Ephesians 6: 18 is in each picture. The continuos prayer during the spiritual battle field (And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests) is always there inside the stuffed animals even when we can not see it. But prayer somtimes is made in silence.

Fernando Vega: Photographer, Executive Producer, Editor, and Lighting Technician

Catarina Calderón: Photographer and Creative Director