The title of this piece is a reference to the Diet of Worms in 1521 at which Martin Luther defended his attack on the established church. That's not what the picture is about as such, but the pun on "worms" amused me, given the worm-like tentacles in the foreground. Also, the various faces imply a discussion or assembly of some sort. On a slightly more random note, while I was at university one of my flatmates made a short animation about Martin Luther sat on the toilet straining until he exploded, and as the central figure appears to be sat on some form of primitive latrine/well it reminded me of that.
I think the fragmented characters represent different elements of the psyche, engaged in a dialogue. I'm interested in psychology, and the idea that a single consciousness is actually made up of multiple elements in a state of perpetual conflict - not just in a schizophrenic sense, though most peoples personalities are layered and complex, but also in terms of desires at odds with the conscience, the self versus selflessness, or the ego standing in the way of enlightenment. I believe that all the major world religions were originally intended as pathways to a higher-self, a state of awareness and clarity in which one acts purely from the conscience, having overcome the baser animal instincts. This state of mind is in fact the true meaning of the term "God", which has over, many centuries of misinterpretation, corruption, and confusion, come to mean something entirely different. The literalists have personified God as an external all-powerful force to be worshipped and feared (I think it's only really the Buddhists who have kept true to the original goal of self-enlightenment, and avoided subserviant terms such as prayer or worship). Though I don't deliberately set out to express this opinion through my artwork, many of my more recent pictures seem to be hinting at my philosophical stand-point. In that sense this image could be viewed as yet another quiet attack on established mainstream thinking, which somehow echoes the historical Diet of Worms, and Luther's Protest against institutional corruption and misunderstandings.