The Nail as a Co-creator in Redemption
Cruciform Matter: The Symbolism of Nails in Easter Art through a New Materialist Lens
I could not let the Easter season pass without revisiting the Crucifixion of Christ from a new Materialist lens and place the nail at the centre of this discussion. So yes!…..the nail occupies a central yet often overlooked place in Christian iconography and art, particularly within the context of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Traditionally emblematic of human sin, divine suffering, and eventual redemption, the nail is most recognizably associated with the Crucifixion—where three nails are said to have affixed the body of Jesus to the cross. In liturgical art, the nail functions not merely as a visual signifier but as a theological anchor, a condensation of Christian soteriology into physical form. However, when reinterpreted through a New Materialist framework, the nail emerges not as a passive object but as a vibrant material agent implicated in the unfolding of sacred history. This text explores how the nail, particularly in Easter-related artworks, can be re-understood as a co-constitutive material actor, drawing on the works of Jane Bennett, Karen Barad, and Bruno Latour.
The Nail in Traditional Christian Symbolism
In Christian doctrine and iconography, the nails of the Crucifixion are symbols of both physical suffering and metaphysical salvation. As seen in works such as Giotto’s "Lamentation" (c. 1305) or Matthias Grünewald’s "Isenheim Altarpiece" (c. 1512–1516), nails are depicted as dark, oversized, and central to the viewer’s gaze. They function metonymically: the violence of the Passion is condensed into the cold steel piercing Christ’s hands and feet. Often, these nails are depicted post-Crucifixion—removed and venerated as relics (e.g., in Hans Memling’s "Man of Sorrows" (c. 1475)), underscoring their transformation from instruments of torture to objects of devotion.
New Materialism and the Agency of the Nail
New Materialism, as an intellectual movement, emphasizes the agentic capacities of matter, rejecting Cartesian dualisms of subject/object or mind/body. In this context, the nail is not merely a symbol within human theological systems, but rather an ontologically significant actor entangled with the divine event.
Jane Bennett, in Vibrant Matter, writes:
“The political project of naming the force of things is to induce a more cautious, intelligent approach to our engagements with matter.” (Bennett, 2010, p. x)
The nail, then, is no longer an inert implement but a vibrant participant in the cruciform narrative. In artworks that accentuate the materiality of the nails—such as Antonio Ciseri’s "Ecce Homo" (c. 1871) or Bill Viola’s "The Passions" (2000–2002) video series—the viewer encounters not only the physical suffering of Christ but also the material presence of the nail itself, which commands its own affective and spiritual weight.
The Nail as Networked Actor
Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT) contributes another angle by framing objects as actors within networks that produce meaning and effect.
“Things are not just the hapless bearers of symbolic projection; they might authorize, allow, afford, encourage, permit or forbid particular actions.” (Reassembling the Social, 2005, p. 72)
In this view, the nail is not a mere background element but an actant within the Passion network. The nail authorizes crucifixion. It allows the fulfillment of prophecy. It encourages theological reflection, and forbids the erasure of suffering from the redemptive narrative.
Artworks like Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece emphasize this material agency. The grotesquely emphasized nails protruding from Christ’s hands become almost sentient—co-conspirators in redemption.
Contemporary Reimaginings: Nail as Posthuman Relic
In contemporary Easter-themed works, artists have begun to abstract or isolate the nail, inviting reinterpretation. Kiki Smith’s "Born" (2002) explores the female body in relation to Christian themes, using materials like bronze and glass that echo the sensory tactility of nails. Likewise, Sokari Douglas Camp’s steel crucifixions reframe the Passion with postcolonial and posthuman overtones, emphasizing the metal of the nail as a continued agent of violence and spiritual endurance.
Here, the nail becomes both material relic and ethical question: what does it mean to venerate an object of violence? How does the material continue to act in the present?
To view the nail through a New Materialist lens is to radically reconfigure its role in Christian theology and art. It is not a mute implement of suffering, but a material agent, a vibrant co-participant, and a theologically entangled actor in the Easter narrative. As both relic and representation, the nail's continued artistic presence invites viewers and theologians alike to consider how matter participates in the sacred—not merely as symbol, but as sacred matter itself.
Works Cited
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press.
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press.
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press.