This is a contemporary tempera/gouache on leather painting by an unknown Ethiopian artist. Source: Sacred Art Pilgrim website .

“Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann (born 1950) was a member of the Daly River Mission church in Australia’s Northern Territory. When it was being redecorated in 1974 she was invited to paint a series of Stations of the Cross. It is unusual for an Aboriginal woman to paint since this is usually the task of the men, but she accepted the challenge and produced a remarkable series of paintings which, like other Aboriginal art, uses symbols to go beyond external shapes to inner meanings and emotions. The Stations of the Cross were painted in acrylic paint on burnie board.

“Ungunmerr-Baumann explains the symbolism of the Stations of the Cross: ‘The third stop shows Jesus falling for the first time (below). In Jesus’ weakened state the weight of the cross forces him to fall. The patterns on his body show the physical stress he is under. The circles on his head indicate the pain and sorrow locked up inside him. The patterns on the cross show the increasing weight on his shoulders. In the Fifth Station, Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross (opposite). When Simon takes hold of the cross, his body merges with that of Jesus. The pattern on Jesus’ head is open: he is giving grace to Simon to strengthen him. When Simon took hold of the cross, something happened inside him: the sun rose inside his head, his mind burst with a new belief, he became a new man. The resurrection had already begun.’ She prays: ‘Jesus you take your heavy cross, It gives you pain. Help all who suffer. Forgive us for the pain we give you and others.'” (Source for this and the image: The Bible Through Asian Eyes by Masao Takenaka and Ron O’Grady 1991)