Lesbian Madonna embodies Christmas spirit

Christmas has inspired many contemporary GLBT artists to create queer spiritual art.

For example, Annunciation (at left) by Swedish photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin shows the Madonna and her female lover are portrayed by a lesbian couple, pregnant through artificial insemination.

The photo is included in my new book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More. In our interview for the book, Ohlson Wallin told me how she created the striking, mysterious image. Here are some excerpts from Art That Dares:

She combined the dual influences of Christianity and queer consciousness to create a groundbreaking series of twelve photos showing Jesus in a contemporary LGBT context. It became one of Europe’s most noticed and notorious art exhibits, even arousing the disapproval of Pope John Paul II—who reacted by canceling his planned audience with the Swedish archbishop.

Ohlson Wallin called the series Ecce Homo, a pun meaning “See the human being” and “See the homosexual.” …

She enlisted local LGBT folk to serve as models, and they spent three years meticulously recreating scenes from the life of Christ based on the artistic masterpieces of Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rubens, and others….

“It’s very important for me in my work that the picture have a documentary truth mixed with the way I arrange the story in the picture,” Ohlson Wallin said. She and her models played with the contradictions….

“I wanted Jesus for me and my own sexual sense. I wanted to be able to identify with Jesus. There are millions and billions of Jesus pictures for heterosexuals to identify with. In Africa they have black Jesus. In China they have Chinese Jesus. Lots of different countries each have a different Jesus.” …

The exhibit went on to tour Scandinavia and continental Europe from 1998 to 2000, winning awards and breaking several attendance records. More than 250,000 people viewed it. Not everyone liked what they saw. A man with an ax destroyed two of the photos. People threw stones at Ohlson Wallin and she needed police protection after receiving death threats….

Ohlson Wallin recorded the whole and and  span of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, beginning with the announcement of his coming birth. In her version, the Madonna and her female lover are portrayed by a lesbian couple, seven months’ pregnant through artificial insemination. The angel Gabriel comes in the form of their gay male friend, who floats in with a message from God—and a test tube for insemination.

That's the end of the excerpts.  May everyone who visits this Gay Spirituality blog experience God born anew in their hearts during the Christmas season.

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Kittredge Cherry is a lesbian Christian art historian and author who offers gay-friendly spiritual resources at JesusInLove.org and blogs at the Jesus in Love Blog.  She recently launched a monthly e-newsletter on queer spirituality and the arts.

 

Comments

[Nude lesbians]

Yes. Maybe, you are right.

[pennyjane]

i understand and somewhat empathize with this pheonomenon, kitt. we do, though, i think have to be very careful that we don't end up re-creating God in our own image instead of being confident that we are made in His.

if we are projecting the visual Jesus as an image easier for us to understand and identify with then i think it's a positive. but if we're trying to make Him this instead of that then we're over the line and missing the whole point.

once we become firm in our conviction that God is all things at all times it gets easier to accept any and all visual images as truth. i understand the need for those who have been marginalized by history and social constructs for images closer to themselves...just be careful. God is never this and not that, He is always this AND that.

much love and hope. pj

[Kittredge Cherry]

Thanks, PJ, your comment is helpful, especially when you wrote, “Once we become firm in our conviction that God is all things at all times it gets easier to accept any and all visual images as truth.”

My first thought was, Of course I accept any and all images! That’s definitely where I come from. But I realized that others may not know that, and therefore it may seem like I’m substituting a monolithically gay Christ for the monolithically straight Christ -- replacing one idol with another. That is not my intent at all. I simply want to expand the diversity of Jesus images out there, and the GLBT religious and spiritual images are sorely lacking.

The feedback that I get from readers and visitors tells me that images of a queer Christ are helping heal some people from Bible-bashing and other forms of religious abuse.

Anyway, I will be careful and try to stay true to God, who transcends all identities.

[pennyjane]

thanks, kitt. i have no doubt where you are coming from...we got the same zip code. but, just as you suggest, it's important to point out from time to time about it not being either/or.

i have the greatest respect and admiration for folks like yourself who take on the challenge of expanding our reference without cutting anything out. thank you, and may your good work last forever.

God bless with much love and hope, pj