Jesus of the People - Janet McKenzie

By Kelsi Roberts

Large photo

In western society, the most common depiction of Jesus Christ is of a white man with long brown hair and a beard. All of us have seen this image somewhere—perhaps in church, at a relative’s house, or in a Bible. One could assert, however, that this white, male image of Jesus, could make certain groups of people feel disconnected from Jesus.

In 1999, Janet McKenzie, an artist from Essex County, VT heard about the Jesus 2000 competition put on by the National Catholic Reporter’s Commission. This contest aimed to attract pieces of art depicting a new “Jesus for the millennium” (janetmckenzie.com). McKenzie’s piece, “Jesus of the People,” depicting an African-American Jesus, won the competition.

The judge, Sister Wendy Beckett of PBS, said of the piece, “This is a haunting image of a peasant Jesus – dark, thick-lipped, looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence. Over His white robe He draws the darkness of our lack of love, holding it to Himself, prepared to transform all sorrows if we will let Him” (janetmckenzie.com).

Before creating this piece, much of McKenzie’s work was focused on imagery of women and African Americans—groups she feels are underrepresented in art and in our world. After hearing about the Jesus 2000 contest, McKenzie intended to make her image of Jesus in celebration of her nephew, who is a person of color, so that he might be able to see himself in Jesus. McKenzie also opted to utilize a female model to give Jesus a more feminine, soft appearance so that perhaps women would also be able to connect with the image as well. She feels that these two groups are often commonly left out when it comes to representations of Jesus. One of her goals with this piece was to show that “Jesus is in all of us” (Janetmckenzie.com).

McKenzie says that she did not intend this painting to cause controversy. Instead, her hope was that more people would be able to connect with Jesus on a different level. McKenzie herself claims to be a “devout agnostic,” but says that the painting is “about love” (Laredo Morning Times).

The first thing I noticed about this piece when first coming across it was that Jesus was depicted as black. This is an incredibly obvious observation, however, it is something that is not often seen in depictions of Jesus. Upon further inspection of the piece, I noticed a few things that I had never seen in an image of Jesus before: A feather and a yin-yang symbol.

As I researched the meaning behind these symbols, I came across McKenzie’s explanation. The yin-yang symbol not only incorporates another culture into the painting, it also symbolizes “perfect harmony.” The halo behind Jesus’ head (that we do see in many other paintings) represents “Jesus’ holiness.” The feather beside Jesus incorporates yet another culture into the painting (Native American), but also represents “transcendent knowledge” (janetmckenzie.com). The pink in the background signifies femininity, but also signifies the color of blood (natcath.com).

These meanings are definitely peripheral. At first glance, one may not notice just how many different kinds of people are represented in this painting. These symbols help to further McKenzie’s goal in making people feel that “Jesus is in all of us” and to incorporate as many cultures as possible. As I have mentioned, the cultures of women, African American, Native American, and Asians are all included in this work.

This painting seems to not necessarily be a retelling of biblical text, but more of a reinterpretation of what Jesus may have looked like. The artist is really trying to convey that Jesus can essentially be whatever we want him to be. She says on her website that she is not trying to replace any existing images of Jesus, she just wants to add this one “in addition to” the others, so that people who may feel disconnected to Jesus have a way to connect and can “see themselves in him” (janetmckenzie.com).

This piece certainly brings a new cultural perspective to Jesus, as I have mentioned throughout this analysis. This Jesus clearly strays from the white, male norm and goes toward a multicultural depiction that many more people can connect to. McKenzie is really challenging what we accept in western society as truth, and with this painting, tries to show that Jesus could have been any color, sex, or culture. What she is really trying to get at is that Jesus should symbolize love and acceptance, so that everyone can identify with Jesus, not just white men. As she says, “all of us need to be celebrated in the images of Jesus…” (janetmckenzie.com).

Much of McKenzie’s other works include women and multiracial holy families. For example, McKenzie has one piece depicting the “three wise women” and other pieces that depict the holy family as African, Asian, Caucasian, and Indian. She aims to allow, “all people to find themselves celebrated.” She has received some hate mail for “Jesus of the People,” but much more mail supporting it.

An interesting video interview with Janet McKenzie:

Sources: Janet Mckenzie's Website

Laredo Morning Times

The National Catholic Reporter

The Baltimore Sun

Why Do We Celebrate Christmas?

When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for my Jesus Then and Now presentation I didn’t really know where to start. The ones I had thought about doing were already used in class, so I felt I was kind of in a bind. Then, after some research, I stumbled across a news story out of Nipomo, California.

To most people Christmas has two main ideas. For all the religious people, it signifies the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is portrayed as and angelic child lying down surrounded by his parents, and many others. To other people, like the kids, it means that it’s time for Santa Clause will come down the chimney and leave presents under the tree if you’ve been a good boy/girl. People around Christmas time also like to decorate their houses with festive lights and lawn displays portraying these two figures of the Christmas holiday. However, instead of choosing one of these figures to use in your lawn decorations, what not just use both?

This last Christmas, Ron Lake of Nipomo, California did just that. On his lawn, he put a life size Jesus figure standing over what is supposed to be the body of a dead Santa Clause. I forgot to mention, Jesus is holding a two barrel shot gun in his hands. The piece of “art” is supposed to represent the United States idea of commercialism during the Christmas Holidays. “You can tell your kids and make it as if there’s a Santa Claus,” said Lake, “and let them believe all that, but you can’t explain these things or ignore this thing. I don’t get it.”

Susan Cruz, a neighbor of Lakes said, “I know it’s freedom of speech, but it’s pretty disturbing and there are lots of children, that’s our main concern.” After it was put up, multiple complaints were filed with the police. Others are concerned about the children because the display is located right next to bus stop. The concern is that the kids will get the wrong idea about the holiday and it will there for make it a negative experience for them.

“Christmas is not about Santa,” said Lake, “it’s about Jesus, not the Jesus as the killer with the shotgun, but come on there’s a little humor here, a little tragedy here.”

Lake also said, “It’s an expression of my repressed creativity.”

When looking at this image I don’t know what to think. I personally am a semi-religious individual. Seeing Jesus with a shotgun in his hand is the last thing I think about when I think of Christmas. I feel like Santa is a way for children to enjoy this holiday. I feel that this man is trying to portray how our country represents this holiday. Christmas is ultimately a holiday to celebrate the life of Jesus, but our society uses it to sell and make our consumerist run society eager for more.

I am also kind of offended because this guy is portraying Jesus as a killer. A quote he gave before said differently, but when you put a gun in his hands and dead body of Santa portrayed on the ground it’s hard not to be a little upset by it. Jesus was never portrayed this way in the bible, and especially on a holiday like this, this is the last image I’d want to see.

Questions

Do you find this picture disturbing? Do you think this is appropriate?

Does the fact that this is a freedom of speech issue make it any more ok?

Do you think this picture properly portrays U.S. commercialism?

Do we focus too much at material goods during this time of year, and not enough on Jesus’ story?

Do you think he has a point behind his argument?

“Dopbilder” by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin

Shocking and thought provoking were the first words that entered my head when I first saw this picture. Many things struck me about this picture. The unavoidable truth located at Jesus’ waist was the first thing that was obvious to me. Do we need to see naked Jesus? What is the artist trying to say? My interpretation is that this is a western style homosexual modern day Jesus. His face, hair, and beard match a sort of stereotypical western view of Jesus. He is holding what I imagine are his clothes and is at peace with his baptism. There are a few things that triggered me that this seems to be a homosexual interpretation. First, he is naked. I don’t know many baptisms of adults where the person has to be naked. Second, John is behind Jesus and they are both standing. From what I have seen of baptisms it seems that the person getting baptized faces and even bows or kneels. Not only is he behind him, but his hand is also placed on Jesus’ hip. It seems modern day to me because they are in what looks to be a pool and John’s hair and facial hair. This doesn’t fit with my classical ideas of what they would look like if they were from before 30 A.D.

In addition to the features of the work I just mentioned there is a dove on Jesus’ shoulder. The two also appear to be very alone.

This photo was included in a collection of 12 photos called Ecce Homo. They were created by Swedish photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin. She has been called one of Sweden’s best-known and established contemporary photographers. She is also ranked as the creator of one of the world's 20 most abused piece of art. The collection was shown in 1998 in Stockholm at Sweden's foremost church, Uppsala Cathedral. The photos show Christ at different stages of his life in the company of homosexuals. When it was first shown riots, demonstrations, and anger flowed towards Wallin and those who allowed it to be displayed. Pope John Paul II also canceled a meeting with Swedish Archbishop K.G. Hammar because of the exhibition. Ecce Homo is Latin for “behold the man”. Pilate used the phrase when he presented Jesus to the angry crowd before the Crucifixion. Wallin chose it for it as the title because of the obvious wordplay with the word homosexual.

In a Wired article she explained how the exhibition came about. "I realized what a great responsibility the church assumes when it issues statements about homosexuals. We still live by the morals and ethics of the Bible."

Wallin, a lesbian, wanted to remind people that Jesus worked with and helped the outcasts of the society. She had the idea when one of her friends died of AIDS in the early 1990s, and saw that some religious extremists called it God's punishment for homosexuality. In a translated quote she said, “The reason that I did Ecce Homo was that there were / are priests who said that AIDS is God's punishment.”

This picture is titled “Dopbilder” which translates to “baptism photo.” This photo is what she calls the source of the entire exhibition. She also said this picture represented her frustration the most.

What I interpreted to be a pool is actually a traditional bathhouse in Stockholm. The dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit coming to Jesus.

Since then, Ohlson travels with a bodyguard after receiving several death threats. In 2007, a Christian group tried to set fire to one of her pictures and a fight between 30 people broke out.

This is certainly an important piece. It has been shown around the world and is a time when it was far less acceptable to be gay. The fact that it was displayed in a church is remarkable to me. She is a significant artist because she has shown how religion affects our everyday lives and how the rhetoric of churches may not always include minority groups and represent their values of peace and acceptance. Jesus hung out with the outcasts and she points out through her work that there is some hypocrisy in that.



http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1999/08/21012 "

Exhibit showing gay Jesus inspires fracas." UPI NewsTrack. 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2010 from accessmylibrary: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32628172_ITM

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.rfsl.se/%3Fp%3D4257%26aid%3D11489&ei=1JSpS7W8G5DUMpKlpcAB&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCkQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DDopbilden%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DRmI%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Ecce-Homo

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.ohlson.se/utstallningar_ecce.htm&ei=66upS7vML4reNeS78KIB&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DElisabeth%2BOhlson%2BWallin%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DmJK%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official

Piss Christ - Andres Serrano

When I was thinking about what to do my presentation on, I decided to do it on something controversial. I typed in “controversial Jesus artwork” into Google and “Piss Christ” by Andres Serrano was the number one result from the search. “Piss Christ” is an image of a plastic crucifix with Jesus on it and the whole thing is submerged in a bottle of the artist’s urine. When I first saw this image, I wasn’t offended or shocked. I never expected to see anything like this, but it didn’t have much a shock factor in my opinion. Art can take on many forms, this being one of them. I can see why it would offend some people. It does defame Jesus in my opinion though.

This work was produced in 1987. When first looking at the picture I saw Jesus on the cross with a lot of yellow throughout the whole picture. It seemed a little different because there were a lot of scratches on it. I didn’t understand why the picture would look like this. Then, I read the description and realized that this was a figure in a bottle full of urine. I didn’t really think of this as art, when first viewing it. Then, I saw that it won an award from the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.

This piece was first seen as controversial in 1989 after winning this award. New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato began receiving letters and phone calls from citizens about the painting. The citizens were shocked and angry at the sight of this painting. This is partly because the artist received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The citizens could not believe that their tax dollars were being used for this sort of thing. The Senator himself could not believe that the money from taxes was being used for this. This caused him to take this problem in front of the Senate. He then wrote a letter to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. In the letter he talked about how appalled he and the citizens were because of the artist receiving the money for that piece of art. He also said that he wants the Chairman to make sure that future winners are thought over more carefully.

D’Amato wasn’t the only Senator to go before the presiding officer about this artwork. North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms had a problem with it as well. He as well believed that “Piss Christ” was a blasphemous piece of work. He went as far as to call the artist a jerk and said that he hopes that he never has to meet the artist. Helms couldn’t believe that something so offensive would honored by receiving an award and money. He even called the National Endowment for the Arts flawed because of their choices.

In 1997, while on display in Australia, “Piss Christ” was vandalized by two youths. During this vandalism, a couple of staff members were injured. This was the second time that it happened to this photograph in Australia. A couple of weeks before a man actually tried to remove the painting. He was arrested and given a one month suspended sentence. These vandalisms took place in the National Gallery of Victoria. The administrators decided to close down the gallery because of unsafe conditions for visitors because of these vandalisms. Archbishop Dr. George Pell applied for an injunction to prevent “Piss Christ” from being exhibited because he believed it was a blasphemous piece of art. Justice Harper of the Supreme Court in Victoria, Australia denied the injunction.

Everyone didn’t find “Piss Christ” offensive. Surprisingly, Catholic nun and art critic Wendy Beckett didn’t find it offensive at all. She believes it shows what people are doing to Christ today.

Serrano has made some comments on “Piss Christ.” He believes that the best place for this piece of art is in the church. Serrano said that he held an exhibit in a church once and everything went smoothly. He even said that the Vatican would be smart to display it one day. Serrano said he ignored all of the stuff going on in the Senate because it was his way of not letting them change his artistic direction. This was all said in an interview, in which he was talking about why he was taking pictures of Ku Klux Klan members. This is a little controversial since Serrano is a Hispanic man. In this interview he also said that he believes that his work is religious, not sacrilegious.

Andres Serrano was born in 1950 in New York City. He attended the Brooklyn Museum of Art School. At one point in his life he became a drug addict, which put his artwork on hold for several years. He was most influenced by European art movements of surrealism and Dada.

“Piss Christ” wasn’t a change from his usual work. That is what makes me think he didn’t want it to cause such a problem. Most of his art involves bodily fluids from humans and animals. His “Madonna and child II” features Mary and Jesus submerged in urine as well. His latest work revolves around feces from himself and other animals. Also, Metallica’s “Load” and “ReLoad” albums feature his artwork as their covers.

References:

http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361_r7.html

http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/shooting_the_kl.php

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n7_v86/ai_21113230/pg_2/

http://www.artslaw.com.au/publications/Articles/97Blasphemy.asp

http://rogallery.com/Serrano_Andres/Andres_Serrano-Biography.html

http://cruciality.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/rethinking-serranos-piss-christ/

Christ The Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer is a gorgeous statue on the top of Corvocado Mountain in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. This is one of the most instantly recognizable images in South America. It stands around 130 feet tall and overlooks the city of Rio. The Redeemer was voted in 2007 one of the New 7 wonders of the World.

The construction of this statue took many years to build, as well as to conceptualize. In the 1850s Pedro Maria Boss was a Catholic Priest who saw Corvocado mountain overlooking the city of Rio and wanted to put a monument of his faith there to overlook the city. In order to do this he needed the approval of Isabella, who was the Imperial Princess of Brazil at the time. He wanted to dedicate this monument to her. It did not work out as Boss had planned, Isabella was unimpressed, and the project never gained popularity.

In 1889, the monarchy over Brazil was overthrown and a new Republic was created. Not soon after this the separation of church and state was proclaimed once again bringing doubt about the possibility of the statue's construction.

It was not until 1921 when the idea was proposed again, supported by the archdiocese, that the creation looked possible. In order to gain funding the Catholic church in Rio held a "Monument Week" where Catholics throughout Brazil sent donations to fund the project, it was a huge success.

Once there was funding for this monument, Carlos Oswaldo was to design the statue. After multiple attempts to try and create a working design for the statue, Oswaldo was dropped from the project and a civil engineer by the name of Heitor da Silva Costa was hired after he came up with the idea for a Jesus with his arms outstretched in the shape of a cross on top of Corvocado Mountain. Corvocado teamed up with French sculptor Paul Landowski to create the statue.

The statue was built in France and brought to Brazil in pieces and assembled together on the mountain using the Corvocado railway. Christ the Redeemer was created using reinforced concrete underneath an outer shell of soapstone, in order to last rough weather conditions. It took five years and $250,000 to complete the statue and there was a huge opening ceremony in 1931 to celebrate its completion.

Costa is best known for his design of The Redeemer, but Paul Landowski had many other sculptures throughout France. Much of his work is surrounded by religion, such as a statue of David, a Reformation wall and many other religious monuments. There is a museum in Paris dedicated to him and contains over 100 of his works.

This statue is amazing in my opinion, not only because of the beauty of a peaceful monument overlooking the city of Rio, but because of its simplicity. It depicts is Jesus with open arms in the symbol of the cross. He does not have much of an expression on his face, and his eyes are not detailed. The statue leaves a lot to the imagination because it is so neutral. There is not much to argue about in this depiction of Jesus because Christ the Redeemer is a very nondescript piece of work. I think this was done for a reason.

With the separation of church and state in Brazil I don't think the constructors wanted to offend anyone. If they were to go into great detail, or have Jesus posing in some aggressive manner people could be easily offended. Because this is a monument for the entire city regardless of religion, I think it was smart to be very generic in Jesus' features and clothing. Jesus shows up in many religions, not just Christianity, so by having Jesus posed in such a peaceful manner with open arms, it is probably easier for everyone to appreciate as a symbol of peace.

The state of the city of Rio is another reason I think this monument is so attractive. Rio is a very rich city in some areas, but is known for its dangerous slums and violence. In a place that is known throughout the world for both its beauty and its danger, it is very fitting to have a statue of Jesus overlooking the entire city, I think it can give hope to a lot of people.

This is such an important monument to the people of Brazil that they are currently raising money again to repair the cracks in the statue which will take around six months to complete.

Resources: http://www.ilovefiguresculpture.com/masters/france/landowski/landowski.htm,http://www.google.com/search?q=christ+the+redeemer+rio&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=7rQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=hMCLS-D5Io7WNb-S2KUB&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=12&ved=0CDQQ5wIwCw,http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11626074,http://modern-latin-american-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_of_christ_the_redeemer_statue_brazil