Censored Christ Mother appears at last

Christ Mother by Janet McKenzie © 2002

Artist Janet McKenzie is world-famous for her sacred art, but her most daring female Christ has rarely been seen until now.

McKenzie’s controversial Christ Mother painting is included in my new book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More. The book contains color images by 11 contemporary artists from the U.S. and Europe.

McKenzie is best known for painting the androgynous black Jesus of the People, which appears on the cover of Art That Dares. The famous painting was chosen by Sister Wendy of PBS to represent Christ in a contest sponsored by the National Catholic Reporter. The resulting controversy brought bomb threats and hate mail to McKenzie’s secluded Vermont studio.

Undaunted, McKenzie followed up with an even more challenging work—a nude female Christ that has largely been censored by the gatekeepers who decide what gets exhibited. Called Christ Mother, it is a towering, gritty, and majestic painting of a naked woman bound in a crucifixion pose.

“Sometimes ‘controversial’ art simply comes forward, like it or not. It is like a scream; you are doing it before you realize you are,” McKenzie recalls in Art That Dares.

In the book, McKenzie describes the opposition to Christ Mother and explains why she painted a female Christ. “She is the feminine aspect of Jesus, mother to us all, and to my mind, she is undeniable,” McKenzie says. “Christ Mother is in the act of being crucified, yet she stands with strength, in acceptance, although bound. Her body glows with life but also reflects the coming hereafter.”

I interviewed McKenzie from afar for Art That Dares, but I didn’t get to meet her in person until we both converged on Taos recently for the National Festival of Progressive Spiritual Art, where McKenzie was one of the top-selling artists.

I was touched by McKenzie’s sincere joy at seeing me with my mother in Taos. A highlight of our time together was when she took a photo of me with my mom. McKenzie is known for paying homage to the female figure, a commitment that she attributes to the loss of her mother and grandmother at an early point in her life.

Other female Christ figures in Art That Dares include Edwina Sandys’ famous bronze crucifix Christa.

I believe that re-envisioning Christ is one of the most important tasks of our time. The new images are much needed now because Christian rhetoric is used to justify discrimination against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (lgbt) people.

In Art That Dares, the book’s 11 artists all tell the stories behind their controversial images, including censorship, violence, death threats and vandalism that destroyed their work. A lively introduction puts the art into political and historical context, exploring issues of blasphemy and artistic freedom.

Author Kittredge Cherry, left, with artist Janet McKenzie

Gay Jesus art delights people at art fest

Doug Blanchard’s gay Passion series fascinated viewers. (Photo by Dorie Hagler)

Art can reach people where rational discussion can’t—especially when it comes to Jesus Christ.

A gay version of Christ’s Passion was the hit of the recent National Festival of Progressive Spiritual Art in Taos, NM. (Update in April 2011: Click here to see the whole series online now.)

Opening-night crowds jammed around the gay Passion series, which shows Jesus as a contemporary gay man jeered by fundamentalists, tortured by Marine look-alikes and rising again to enjoy homoerotic moments with God and friends.

The art exhibit was based partly on my new book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More. It is filled with color images by 11 contemporary artists from the U.S. and Europe, and many of the artists were in the opening-night crowd.

The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision by New York painter Douglas Blanchard provoked thoughtful discussions and impressed art collectors at the Taos show. He became the festival’s top seller, with almost half of the panels in his 24-part Gay Passion series snapped up by collectors.

The success of the festival proved to me that many people are hungry for progressive Christian images, even though conservatives have tried to censor them. Art that dares to show Jesus as gay or female has been censored or destroyed. That’s why I gathered these beautiful, liberating, sometimes shocking images into a book—to ensure that they would be available. The crowds and sales at the festival were a real affirmation.

Art sales set a new one-day record for JHS Gallery on opening night, when at least 350 people jammed into the gallery while the Taos Gospel Choir sang. A local newspaper editor declared it to be the biggest art opening to hit Taos in the last 10 years. Among those who covered it was the New York Sun.

More than half of the 11 artists featured in Art That Dares were on hand for the opening. In addition to Blanchard, I got to reconnect with Atlanta painter Becki Jayne Harrelson, whose notorious “faggot crucifixion” was on display, and three artists who use female Christ imagery: Sandra Yagi of San Francisco, Jill Ansell of New Mexico and Janet McKenzie of Vermont.

Thanks to curator Jodi Simmons of JHS Gallery, the Taos exhibit showcased many other artists in addition to those in Art That Dares. The book focused on queer and gender equality, while the exhibit addressed the full range of progressive issues including war, racial justice and technology.

While I was in New Mexico, many people urged me to do a blog on queer spirituality themes. I've been wanting to blog for a long time, but I didn’t want to start until I was ready to keep it up on a regular basis. Now the time has come. I plan to post once or twice a week.

A new online gallery of images from the book and exhibit is online now at the author’s website, JesusInLove.org.

I’ll be posting more photos and stories from the Taos Art Festival, as well as commentary on current events, spiritual reflections, and updates on my future projects. Check back again soon!

(The photo shows me with Crucifixion of the Christ by Becki Jayne Harrelson.)

Update: The video below captures the excitement and meaning of the festival. Produced by the Taos News, it presents gospel music and artwork from opening night, plus an interview with artist Janet McKenzie. She talks about why she painted a black female Jesus of the People.