Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon

“Coyolxauhqui Returns as Our Lady disguised as La Virgen de Guadalupe to defend the rights of Las Chicanas” by Alma Lopez

“Chulo De Guadalupe” by Tony de Carlo

Our Lady of Guadalupe brings a message of holy empowerment that speaks to LGBT people -- and angers Christian conservatives. Queer art based on Guadalupe is shown here for her feast day today (Dec. 12). She is an Aztec version of the Virgin Mary that appeared to Aztec peasant Juan Diego outside Mexico City on Dec. 12, 1531.


For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon
In Juan Diego’s vision, the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, addressing him as if he were a prince. It was astonishing because Mexico had been conquered 10 years earlier by Spaniards who claimed to have the one true faith. Following her instructions, he gathered roses in his cloak. An icon of her, looking just as Juan Diego described, was imprinted on the cloak as a miraculous sign. Our Lady of Guadalupe became a popular symbol of dignity and hope for the native people of Mexico, and by extension to indigenous or oppressed people everywhere.

The hill where Juan Diego had his vision used to be the site of an ancient temple to the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin. Her temple was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. Our Lady of Guadalupe (in Spanish Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Virgen de Guadalupe) asked for a church to be built in her honor right there, among the conquered people. That shrine is now the most popular Catholic pilgrimage destination, receiving more than 6 million visitors per year.

Even standard icons of Guadalupe are subversive because they show the Virgin as a dark-skinned Mexican, challenging the Euro-centric images of her as a blue-eyed white lady. The foremothers of the Mexican Guadalupe include the Black Madonnas, especially the medieval Spanish Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremdaura, Spain.

Those who took the liberating vision a step further to create queer Guadalupe art include Tony De Carlo, Alex Donis, Ralfka Gonzalez, Alma Lopez, and Jim Ru.

“Our Lady” by Alma Lopez

"Our Lady of Controversy" cover

Erotically alive, feminist and lesbian versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe are a common theme in the art of Alma Lopez, a Chicana artist and activist born in Mexico and raised in California. A huge controversy erupted over her “Our Lady,” a digital print showing the Virgin of Guadalupe in a bikini made of roses, exalted by a bare-breasted butterfly. Lopez says she intended it as a tribute to Our Lady, “inspired by the experiences of many Chicanas and their complex relationship to La Virgen de Guadalupe.”

Encuentro (Encounter)
by Alma Lopez

Death threats, censorship efforts, and violent protests brought national and international attention to Lopez’ “Our Lady” over the years as artistic freedom clashed with freedom of religion. In one of the most recent conflicts, thousands of negative messages compromised the email system of an Irish university that dared to exhibit it in 2011. (For details, see my previous post Our Lady and Queer Saints art attacked as blasphemy - Show support now!).

“Lupe and Sirena in Love”
by Alma Lopez

In 2001 Catholic authorities tried to have Lopez’ “Our Lady” removed from an exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. The debate is covered in the 2011 book “Our Lady of Controversy: Alma Lopez’s ‘Irreverent Apparition.’” from University of Texas Press. The anthology is edited by Alma Lopez and Alicia Gaspar de Alba. The two women were married in 2008, during the first brief period when same-sex marriage was legal in California.

“Our Lady” is erotic, but there is more overt lesbian content in some of the other images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that Lopez made. Her website, almalopez.net, includes images of a romance between Guadalupe and a mermaid in artwork such as “Lupe and Sirena in Love.”

The Aztec moon goddess Coyolxauhqui has been interpreted as a lesbian deity by Chicanas such as writer-activist Cherrie Moraga. Lopez paints Coyolxauhqui, machete in hand, as Guadalupe in the image at the top of this post: “Coyolxauhqui Returns as Our Lady disguised as La Virgen de Guadalupe to defend the rights of Las Chicanas.”

“Mary Magdalene and Virgen de Guadalupe” (from “My Cathedral”) by Alex Donis

Alex Donis painted the Virgin of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene as part of “My Cathedral,” a series that showed people of opposite viewpoints kissing in same-sex pairs. Donis was familiar with contradictions from his own “tri-cultural” identity: pop, queer, and Latino. Born to Guatemalan parents, he grew up in East Los Angeles.

His “My Cathedral” exhibit caused a frenzy when it opened in San Francisco in 1997. Heated arguments erupted in the gallery, followed by threatening phone calls and letters. Vandals smashed two of the artworks: Jesus kissing the Hindu god Rama, and guerilla leader Che Guevara kissing labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Most people overlooked his painting of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene, but it remains a potent, beautiful expression of the union of sexuality and spirituality. It is included in the book “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More by Kittredge Cherry..”

Guadalupe as Chenrezig by Ralfka Gonzalez

Outsider artist Ralfka Gonzalez adds an androgynous Buddhist interpretation by painting Guadalupe as the embodiment of compassion known as Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara or Kwan Yin. Tradition says the compassionate bodhisattva is both male and female. In the Gonzalez image, he/she is wrapped in Juan Diego's cloak.

Pictured here is the first of many “Buddha Lupe” images painted by Gonzalez. He is a self-taught Chicano artist and gay Latino activist who divides his time between Oaxaca, Mexico and San Francisco. He often paints Mexican and/or gay themes in a colorful folk-art style.

Artist Tony de Carlo affirms the holiness of gay love with bright, festive paintings of queer saints, Adam and Steve, same-sex marriage and much more. His genderbending “Chulo De Guadalupe” appears near the top of this post. In Mexican slang “chulo” refers to someone who is cute and, in some cases, sexy.

De Carlo, who died in 2014, was a native of Los Angeles. His work is exhibited regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States.For more on Tony De Carlo and his art, see my previous post: Gay saints, Adam and Steve, and marriage equality art affirm LGBT love: Tony De Carlo Interview.

"Virginia Guadalupe" by Jim Ru

Jim Ru painted a bearded drag queen version of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Titled “Virginia Guadalupe,” the painting was displayed in his show “Transcendent Faith: Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Saints” in Bisbee Arizona in the 1990s. He discusses it in a 2015 video.



These bold paintings certainly give new meaning to the title bestowed upon Guadalupe by Pope Pius XII: “Queen of Mexico.” If the Virgin Mary could appear to an Aztec as an Aztec, then why not show up to a queer as a queer?

Guadalupe tends to dominate discussions of Latina/o depictions of Mary, but other icons of the Virgin tend to be more important outside Mexico, such Our Lady of Lujan in Argentina. And artists are making queer versions of these other Virgins too. For example, Giuseppe Campuzano (1969-2013) of Peru cross-dressed as Our Lady of Sorrows in art portraits that appear in his book “Museo Travesti del Peru (The Peruvian Transgender Museum).”
___
Related links:
Virgen de Guadalupe Contemporary Art (Feminist Texican)

Decolonizing Sexuality and Spirituality in Chicana Feminist and Queer Art by Laura E. Perez (Tikkun)

A Visit to Alma Lopez’ Studio: Finding lesbian saints, mermaids, revolutionaries and goddesses (Jesus in Love)

Giuseppe Campuzano and the Museo Travesti del Perú (Hemisperic Institute)

To read this post en español, go to Santos Queer:
La Virgen de Guadalupe Queer: Artistas reinventan un icono

___

Various icons of Our Lady of Guadalupe and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores



_________
This post is part of the GLBT Saints series and LGBT Holidays series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, heroes and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year in the Saints series. The Holidays series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Was Jesus married?

This scrap papyrus says that Jesus had a wife

People are buzzing over the discovery of an ancient papyrus fragment in which Jesus mentions “my wife.”

The standard Bible texts don’t say anything about Jesus’ marital status. I usually focus on the possibility of a queer Christ here at the Jesus in Love Blog, but the idea that he was married at all opens up new options for affirming sexuality of every kind.

SF Gate’s new piece about the papyrus discovery includes a link to my reflection on The Many Faces of Mary Magdalene, the woman most likely to marry Jesus. Here’s the part that sent hundreds of new visitors to the Jesus in Love Blog:

The adorable tale of Jesus’ sexy wife is like a sly teaser to a grand movie we can’t quite see just yet, but which we’re all fully participating in, every single day.

There’s also a medieval tradition that Jesus married a man -- his beloved disciple John -- at the wedding in Cana where he turned water into wine.

___
Related links:
Jesus’ Gay Wedding at Cana (Queering the Church)

A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus’ Wife (New York Times)

Jesus Appears to His Friends (Gay Passion of Christ series)

21. Jesus Appears to His Friends (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard (Collection of Bill Carpenter)

“And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see.’” -- Luke 24:38-39 (RSV)

[Note: This month I am posting new text on the resurrection images from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Douglas Blanchard.]

Friends react with joy -- and some doubt -- to the return of the risen Christ in “Jesus Appears to His Friends.” Jesus allows himself to be embraced and examined by his diverse friendship group. He gets hugs from his Beloved Disciple and an elderly woman with a cane as a young black woman smiles beside him. Meanwhile a bald skeptic in a suit inspects his wounded wrist. Other disciples watch from behind. The red gash in Jesus’ side stands out against his handsome physique. The same room is pictured in Blanchard’s Last Supper, but here the mood is transformed from a dark-toned goodbye to a happy hello lit up with lavender and with warm flesh tones. Misty moonlight pours in from the back window in the shape of an ascending dove, hinting at the presence of the Holy Spirit.

As usual in Blanchard’s series, Jesus attracts a surprisingly varied group. The imagery and title emphasize that the people around Jesus were his friends, not just his disciples. As he told them at the Last Supper, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) Some of the faces are familiar from previous paintings: The young black woman looks like Mary Magdalene in “Jesus Appears to Mary.” The same Beloved Disciple wrapped a loving arm around Jesus in “The Last Supper.”

Blanchard’s progressive politics are evident in the way that Jesus focuses on those who are gay, black and disabled, while ignoring the old white guy. It’s almost humorous how everyone else is delighted to see Jesus, while the pragmatist in the tie and glasses is busy fact-checking. But Jesus doesn’t push him away. The Doubting Thomas figure is welcome to check the wounds scientifically. Many people, queer or otherwise, share the skeptic’s desire to make decisions based on direct experience and not get caught up in all the hoopla about Jesus. Thomas provides a positive role model of someone who is not going to fall for any religious trickery -- and yet Jesus still welcomes him into his circle of friends.

The painting belongs to Bill Carpenter of Soulforce, a civil-rights group that works to free LGBT people from religious and political oppression. He picked out the painting when Blanchard’s Passion series was displayed at the 2007 National Festival of Progressive Spiritual Art in Taos, New Mexico. Carpenter was there to teach nonviolence resistance in preparation for anti-LGBT attacks which fortunately did not materialize.

He explains why he selected this painting from the series of 24 panels: “I chose ‘Jesus Appears To His Friends’ because, through it, I connected with the humanity of Jesus…He had friends! And, because Doug showed Jesus’ friends as a beautifully diverse collection of humanity…just like our world…and I felt that Jesus truly welcomed each and every soul into his world…with no qualification or judgment and I wanted to be reminded of that potential within me.”

The painting fits into the long artistic tradition of Doubting Thomas, a common subject at least since the sixth century. Formally known as the Incredulity of St. Thomas, the scene has been painted by famous artists from Caravaggio to Georges Roualt. The Bible says that the disciple Thomas rejected reports from others who saw the risen Christ. “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe,” he insisted. His doubt turned to faith when Jesus returned and invited him to do just that. Modern dress and a contemporary cast of characters bring Blanchard’s version alive. LGBT people may appreciate the same-sex affection depicted between Jesus and the Beloved Disciple, which is Blanchard’s new contribution to the standard repertoire of Doubting Thomas iconography.

“The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.’” -- John 20:26-27 (RSV)

Jesus’ friends were hiding together, afraid of the authorities who killed their beloved leader. The doors were shut, but somehow Jesus got inside and stood among them. They couldn’t believe it! He urged them to touch him, and even invited them to inspect the wounds from his crucifixion. As they felt his warm skin, their doubts and fears turned into joy. Jesus liked touch. He often touched people in order to heal them, and he let people touch him. He defied taboos and allowed himself to be touched by women and people with diseases. He understood human sexuality, befriending prostitutes and other sexual outcasts. LGBT sometimes hide themselves in closets of shame, but Jesus wasn’t like that. He was pleased with own human body, even after it was wounded.

Jesus, can I really touch you?

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus Appears to Mary (Gay Passion of Christ series)

19. Jesus Appears to Mary (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus…. Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended.” -- John 20:14, 17 (RSV)

[Note: This month I am posting new text on the resurrection images from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Douglas Blanchard.]

Two friends meet at sunrise in “Jesus Appears to Mary.” They circle each other as Mary gestures with happy surprise at finding Jesus alive in the graveyard. The colors are suddenly much brighter. The morning star shines in a gorgeous blue sky while the first rays of dawn awaken the spring-green grass. The frame itself is green -- even the faux wood has sprung to life! A patch of sunlight catches the risen Christ, but Mary remains in shadow.

On the horizon are excavating machines and a body of water that separates them from the distant city skyline. Jesus and Mary are surrounded by numbered gravestones. The one behind Jesus is marked “124” -- the same number on the mysterious tag around Jesus’ neck in the first painting of this series. The artist confirmed that he chose “124” because it has no special meaning in Christianity. Jesus died as a human castoff, stripped of his name and labeled with a random number. The gravestones and setting look like Hart Island, a public cemetery for the unknown and indigent in New York City. Operated by prison labor, Hart Island is the world’s largest tax-funded cemetery with daily mass burials and more than 850,000 buried there.

The contrast and dynamic tension between the figures suggests that this is the moment known as “Noli me tangere,” the Latin version of Jesus words to Mary when she recognizes him after his resurrection. In the Bible story, Mary Magdalene goes to visit Jesus’ tomb before sunrise. She is distraught to discover that his corpse is missing -- until she sees the risen Christ. Overcome with emotion, she starts to hug him, but he stops her with a request that has multiple translations. The original Greek is best translated as “Stop clinging to me” or “Cease holding on to me.” But the Latin translation is embedded in cultural tradition: “Don’t touch me (noli me tangere) for I have not yet ascended.” The scene has been an iconographic standard for artists throughout the Christian world from late antiquity to the present.

Jesus made his first post-resurrection appearance to a woman in an era when women weren’t even allowed to testify at legal proceedings. And yet the risen Jesus chose a woman as his first witness. This is good news for all the disenfranchised, including today’s LGBT people. Mary Magdalene has an undeserved bad reputation. The church mistakenly labeled her as a prostitute for centuries, but the Bible does NOT say she committed sexual sins. Progressive theologians are reclaiming her as a role model. The Bible portrays Mary Magdalene as the most important woman follower of Jesus. She supported his ministry with her resources, traveled with him on his last journey to Jerusalem, witnessed his crucifixion, and hurried to his tomb before sunrise.

“Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.” -- Mark 16:9 (RSV)

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of her friend Jesus early on Sunday morning. It was empty! She started crying and someone came up to her. Mary thought he was the gardener until he spoke her name. Her heart leaped as she recognized Jesus! People had wondered about her relationship with Jesus from the start. The bond that springs up sometimes between a gay man and a woman is incomprehensible to most. They don’t understand how a man and a woman can love each other without being sexual. And why would Jesus, who had many powerful male followers, pay so much attention to a woman? Yet he chose Mary as the first witness to his resurrection.

Jesus, where are you now? Will you speak to me?

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon

“Coyolxauhqui Returns as Our Lady disguised as La Virgen de Guadalupe to defend the rights of Las Chicanas” by Alma Lopez

“Chulo De Guadalupe” by Tony de Carlo

Our Lady of Guadalupe brings a message of holy empowerment that speaks to LGBT people -- and angers Christian conservatives. Queer art based on Guadalupe is shown here for her feast day today (Dec. 12). She is an Aztec version of the Virgin Mary that appeared to Aztec peasant Juan Diego outside Mexico City on Dec. 12, 1531.


For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon
In Juan Diego’s vision, the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, addressing him as if he were a prince. It was astonishing because Mexico had been conquered 10 years earlier by Spaniards who claimed to have the one true faith. Following her instructions, he gathered roses in his cloak. An icon of her, looking just as Juan Diego described, was imprinted on the cloak as a miraculous sign. Our Lady of Guadalupe became a popular symbol of dignity and hope for the native people of Mexico, and by extension to indigenous or oppressed people everywhere.

The hill where Juan Diego had his vision used to be the site of an ancient temple to the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin. Her temple was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. Our Lady of Guadalupe (in Spanish Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Virgen de Guadalupe) asked for a church to be built in her honor right there, among the conquered people. That shrine is now the most popular Catholic pilgrimage destination, receiving more than 6 million visitors per year.

Even standard icons of Guadalupe are subversive because they show the Virgin as a dark-skinned Mexican, challenging the Euro-centric images of her as a blue-eyed white lady. The foremothers of the Mexican Guadalupe include the Black Madonnas, especially the medieval Spanish Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremdaura, Spain.

Those who took the liberating vision a step further to create queer Guadalupe art include Tony De Carlo, Alex Donis, Ralfka Gonzalez, Alma Lopez, and Jim Ru.

“Our Lady” by Alma Lopez

"Our Lady of Controversy" cover

Erotically alive, feminist and lesbian versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe are a common theme in the art of Alma Lopez, a Chicana artist and activist born in Mexico and raised in California. A huge controversy erupted over her “Our Lady,” a digital print showing the Virgin of Guadalupe in a bikini made of roses, exalted by a bare-breasted butterfly. Lopez says she intended it as a tribute to Our Lady, “inspired by the experiences of many Chicanas and their complex relationship to La Virgen de Guadalupe.”

Encuentro (Encounter)
by Alma Lopez

Death threats, censorship efforts, and violent protests brought national and international attention to Lopez’ “Our Lady” over the years as artistic freedom clashed with freedom of religion. In one of the most recent conflicts, thousands of negative messages compromised the email system of an Irish university that dared to exhibit it in 2011. (For details, see my previous post Our Lady and Queer Saints art attacked as blasphemy - Show support now!).

“Lupe and Sirena in Love”
by Alma Lopez

In 2001 Catholic authorities tried to have Lopez’ “Our Lady” removed from an exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. The debate is covered in the 2011 book “Our Lady of Controversy: Alma Lopez’s ‘Irreverent Apparition.’” from University of Texas Press. The anthology is edited by Alma Lopez and Alicia Gaspar de Alba. The two women were married in 2008, during the first brief period when same-sex marriage was legal in California.

“Our Lady” is erotic, but there is more overt lesbian content in some of the other images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that Lopez made. Her website, almalopez.net, includes images of a romance between Guadalupe and a mermaid in artwork such as “Lupe and Sirena in Love.”

The Aztec moon goddess Coyolxauhqui has been interpreted as a lesbian deity by Chicanas such as writer-activist Cherrie Moraga. Lopez paints Coyolxauhqui, machete in hand, as Guadalupe in the image at the top of this post: “Coyolxauhqui Returns as Our Lady disguised as La Virgen de Guadalupe to defend the rights of Las Chicanas.”

“Mary Magdalene and Virgen de Guadalupe” (from “My Cathedral”) by Alex Donis

Alex Donis painted the Virgin of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene as part of “My Cathedral,” a series that showed people of opposite viewpoints kissing in same-sex pairs. Donis was familiar with contradictions from his own “tri-cultural” identity: pop, queer, and Latino. Born to Guatemalan parents, he grew up in East Los Angeles.

His “My Cathedral” exhibit caused a frenzy when it opened in San Francisco in 1997. Heated arguments erupted in the gallery, followed by threatening phone calls and letters. Vandals smashed two of the artworks: Jesus kissing the Hindu god Rama, and guerilla leader Che Guevara kissing labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Most people overlooked his painting of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene, but it remains a potent, beautiful expression of the union of sexuality and spirituality. It is included in the book “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More by Kittredge Cherry..”

Guadalupe as Chenrezig by Ralfka Gonzalez

Outsider artist Ralfka Gonzalez adds an androgynous Buddhist interpretation by painting Guadalupe as the embodiment of compassion known as Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara or Kwan Yin. Tradition says the compassionate bodhisattva is both male and female. In the Gonzalez image, he/she is wrapped in Juan Diego's cloak.

Pictured here is the first of many “Buddha Lupe” images painted by Gonzalez. He is a self-taught Chicano artist and gay Latino activist who divides his time between Oaxaca, Mexico and San Francisco. He often paints Mexican and/or gay themes in a colorful folk-art style.

Artist Tony de Carlo affirms the holiness of gay love with bright, festive paintings of queer saints, Adam and Steve, same-sex marriage and much more. His genderbending “Chulo De Guadalupe” appears near the top of this post. In Mexican slang “chulo” refers to someone who is cute and, in some cases, sexy.

De Carlo, who died in 2014, was a native of Los Angeles. His work is exhibited regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States.For more on Tony De Carlo and his art, see my previous post: Gay saints, Adam and Steve, and marriage equality art affirm LGBT love: Tony De Carlo Interview.

"Virginia Guadalupe" by Jim Ru

Jim Ru painted a bearded drag queen version of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Titled “Virginia Guadalupe,” the painting was displayed in his show “Transcendent Faith: Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Saints” in Bisbee Arizona in the 1990s. He discusses it in a 2015 video.



These bold paintings certainly give new meaning to the title bestowed upon Guadalupe by Pope Pius XII: “Queen of Mexico.” If the Virgin Mary could appear to an Aztec as an Aztec, then why not show up to a queer as a queer?

Guadalupe tends to dominate discussions of Latina/o depictions of Mary, but other icons of the Virgin tend to be more important outside Mexico, such Our Lady of Lujan in Argentina. And artists are making queer versions of these other Virgins too. For example, Giuseppe Campuzano (1969-2013) of Peru cross-dressed as Our Lady of Sorrows in art portraits that appear in his book “Museo Travesti del Peru (The Peruvian Transgender Museum).”
___
Related links:
Virgen de Guadalupe Contemporary Art (Feminist Texican)

Decolonizing Sexuality and Spirituality in Chicana Feminist and Queer Art by Laura E. Perez (Tikkun)

A Visit to Alma Lopez’ Studio: Finding lesbian saints, mermaids, revolutionaries and goddesses (Jesus in Love)

Giuseppe Campuzano and the Museo Travesti del Perú (Hemisperic Institute)

To read this post en español, go to Santos Queer:
La Virgen de Guadalupe Queer: Artistas reinventan un icono

___

Various icons of Our Lady of Guadalupe and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores



_________
This post is part of the GLBT Saints series and LGBT Holidays series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, heroes and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year in the Saints series. The Holidays series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

The many faces of Mary Magdalene

“The Damsel of the Holy Grail” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1874), Wikimedia Commons

Mary Magdalene is one of the most fascinating people in Christianity. Facts are few, and speculations run wild. Is she the greatest apostle, the sexiest saint, a repentant prostitute, the wife of Jesus or something even queerer? Consider some of her many faces today in honor of her feast day (July 22).

LGBT Christians may be able to relate to Mary Magdalene as someone who had a close relationship with Jesus, but got an undeserved bad reputation in the church for sexual sins. The church labeled her as a prostitute for centuries, but the Bible does NOT say she was a prostitute. Feminist theologians are reclaiming her as a role model in the struggle for equality.

The Bible portrays Mary Magdalene as the most important woman disciple of Jesus. He cast seven demons out of her and she became one of the women contributed their own resources to support Jesus (Luke 8:3). She traveled with him on his last journey to Jerusalem, watched his crucifixion, and was the first witness to his resurrection. All this, and only this, is in the gospels.

Mary Magdalene is also the author of her own gnostic gospel, the Gospel of Mary Magadelene. It survives in two 3rd-century Greek fragments and a longer 5th-century Coptic translation. Like several other apocryphal manuscripts, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene records her conflict with Peter over leadership in the Jesus movement. Peter challenges her right to speak for Jesus by asking, “Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?”

Medieval legends say that Mary Magdalene traveled to France with the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus as the Last Supper. This vision of Mary Magdalene appears in “The Damsel of the Holy Grail” by 19th-century English painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He presents Mary Magdalene as a mystical Christ figure, holding the Eucharistic chalice in one hand and raising the other in a gesture of benediction. The white dove of the Holy Spirit holds a pot of burning incense over her.

Mary Magdalene is an inspiration for those who seek progressive role models for church leadership today. For example, the Nativity Project recently commissioned three new paintings of Mary Magdalene by Vermont artist Janet McKenzie. They illustrate “an alternative to Peter’s hierarchical way of being church--that of the companion disciple modeled by Mary Magdalene--the one who worked side by side with Jesus,” according to thenativityproject.com.

McKenzie and Nativity Project founder Barbara Marion conceived of the paintings as part of the project’s mission to celebrate women in the New Testament. “The One Sent” (pictured below) shows two spiritual teachers seated side by side: Jesus, sent to live among us as the Word made flesh, and Mary Magdalene, the first one sent to proclaim the Resurrection.

“The One Sent: Mary Magdalene with Jesus, the Christ” (from the triptych The Succession of Mary Magdalene) by Janet McKenzie

Penitent Magdalene,
by Titian (1565)
Wikimedia Commons

Mary Magdalene has a reputation as a prostitute, and some people love her for being the archetypal “bad girl.” As far back as the third century, church tradition has identified her with the unnamed “sinful woman” who wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair and the woman whom Jesus saved from being stoned for adultery. Over the centuries many great artists painted her as a repentant prostitute. However, the Bible never says that Mary Magdalene was a sex worker. The Second Vatican Council officially removed the prostitute label in 1969.

Still, many people can relate to the idea of a sexually experienced disciple. If Mary Magdalene wasn’t a prostitute, perhaps she was the wife of Jesus. An unnamed “Beloved disciple” plays an important role in the Bible. A popular theory suggests that the Beloved Disciple was Mary Magdalene.

Some modern writers, notably Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code,” claim that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered children with her. Thus Mary Magdalene herself becomes the metaphorical Holy Grail, the receptacle who carried on his bloodline by bearing one or more children with him.

Why stop there? Artist Peter Grahame has imagined the possibility of a bisexual Jesus in a love triangle with Mary Magdalene and John as the Beloved Disciple in his photo “Saying Goodbye to John and Mary.” (It can be viewed it in our previous post “Exploring Jesus the Bisexual.” Warning: nudity.) I also explore Jesus’ bisexual attractions in my “Jesus in Love” novels (although in my books Mary Magdalene does not return Jesus’ erotic interest).

Maybe Mary Magdalene herself was bisexual or lesbian. Painter Alex Donis imagines Mary Magdalene enjoying a woman-to-woman kiss in “Mary Magdalene and Virgen de Guadalupe.” (For more info, see our previous post Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon.)

“Mary Magdalene and Virgen de Guadalupe” (from “My Cathedral”) by Alex Donis

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene ends with Levi defending her against Peter: “If the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us.”

The Queer Spirituality of Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga inside pink triangles, from “Born This Way” video

By Patrick S. Cheng

Lady Gaga, the global pop music sensation, is known for her strong lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) following. Whether it’s due to her fabulous wardrobe and makeup, her visually stunning music videos, her strong statements in support of LGBT rights, or her androgynous aesthetic, Gaga has cultivated a dedicated LGBT fan base over the last few years.

With the May 23 release of her most recent album, Born This Way, Lady Gaga has shown that she is much more than just a queer cultural icon. She is also a queer spiritual evangelist who refuses to shy away from controversial religious topics. Indeed, the provocative lyrics of several songs in Born This Way challenge, or “queer,” a number of deeply-held theological beliefs.

For example, in her title track “Born This Way” (see video below), Lady Gaga queers the classical Christian notion of original sin. Instead of understanding human beings as being fallen at birth, Gaga strongly affirms the intrinsic goodness of all persons. According to Gaga, we are “all born superstars” and that “God makes no mistakes.” In Gaga’s words, “Don’t be a drag – just be a queen.” Despite being “outcast, bullied, or teased” – as many LGBT children and youth are today – we are called to love ourselves unconditionally.

In “Black Jesus † Amen Fashion,” Lady Gaga uses the symbol of the Black Jesus to disrupt our conventional thought patterns, theological or otherwise. According to Gaga, this song is about her experiences of moving to downtown New York City at the age of 19 and experiencing an entirely new way of thinking. By lifting up the Black Jesus, Gaga challenges our deeply-held assumptions about faith, which is precisely what Black liberation theologians have done since the late 1960s. In this song, Gaga proclaims that “Jesus is the new black,” and calls on the Black Jesus to “Work it.” She challenges us to embrace a new way of seeing, which should be just like putting on new clothes and “fashion.”

In “Bloody Mary,” Lady Gaga lifts up the divine feminine, which parallels what feminist theologians have done for decades in the face of patriarchal religious oppression. According to an interview in the UK’s New Musical Express magazine, Gaga said that “Bloody Mary” is about exploring both the humanity and the divinity of the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene. Speaking in the voice of Mary Magdalene in the song, Gaga vows to be strong – to the point of being superhuman – in the face of Jesus’ crucifixion. She says that “I won’t cry for you,” despite the fact that she is afraid of dying alone (“J’ai peur mourir toute seule”).

Finally, in the provocative song “Judas” (see video below), Lady Gaga challenges the traditional demonization – or scapegoating – of Judas Iscariot. Although Judas is normally seen as the ultimate betrayer of Jesus Christ, Gaga sings “I’m in love with Judas” throughout the song. Although Jesus is Gaga’s “virtue,” Judas is the “demon” that she clings to. In the music video, Lady Gaga rides with the leader (that is, the Christ figure) of a 12-member motorcycle gang. However, Gaga is attracted to another biker, the Judas figure. Gaga has the chance to shoot Judas, but she does not do so. Instead, Gaga is stoned to death by those around her.

As I have written elsewhere, “Judas” reminds me of the second-century gnostic Gospel of Judas. According to that non-canonical gospel, Judas is actually the most loyal of the twelve apostles. He is the only apostle who truly understands Jesus’ mission. That is, Judas is simply following Jesus’ command by turning him over to the authorities. As such, Judas is the but-for cause of our salvation! For me, the song “Judas” challenges us to rethink our assumptions about salvation and to examine more closely the ways in which our faith traditions often scapegoat the “other,” including LGBT people.

In sum, Lady Gaga’s new album, Born This Way, is an exciting new expression of queer spirituality. Hopefully it will provoke much discussion among LGBT theological, religious, and spiritual enthusiasts in the weeks and months to come.

* * *

Patrick S. Cheng is the Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. He writes for the religion section of the Huffington Post, and he is the author of Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology. For more information about Patrick, see his website at http://www.patrickcheng.net/index.html.

___
You might also enjoy:

“Lady Gaga Walks the Weird Wall: Toby Johnson Reflects on the Goddess Mythology of BORN THIS WAY” by gay spirituality author Toby Johnson at the MyOutSpirit Gay Spirituality Blog

“Erotic Christ / Rethinking Sin and Grace for LGBT People” by Patrick Cheng

19. Jesus Appears to Mary (Gay Passion of Christ series)

19. Jesus Appears to Mary (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.” -- Mark 16:9 (RSV)

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of her friend Jesus early on Sunday morning. It was empty! She started crying and someone came up to her. Mary thought he was the gardener until he spoke her name. Her heart leaped as she recognized Jesus! People had wondered about her relationship with Jesus from the start. The bond that springs up sometimes between a gay man and a woman is incomprehensible to most. They don’t understand how a man and a woman can love each other without being sexual. And why would Jesus, who had many powerful male followers, pay so much attention to a woman? Yet he chose Mary as the first witness to his resurrection.

Jesus, where are you now? Will you speak to me?
___

More resources
Jesus rises on the first Easter (excerpt from “At the Cross” by Kittredge Cherry)

Next: 20. Jesus Appears at Emmaus

It’s not over! The series continues with appearances by the Risen Christ through Friday, April 29. These are some of the most creative and uplifting paintings in the Gay Passion series, so don’t miss it.

Happy Easter from Kittredge Cherry
and the Jesus in Love Blog!

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. 

Click here for the whole Gay Passion series or click the titles below to view individual posts in the series.

Introduction
1. The Human One (Son of Man) with Job and Isaiah
2. Jesus Enters the City 
3. Jesus Drives Out the Money Changers
4. Jesus Preaches in the Temple
5. The Last Supper
6. Jesus Prays Alone
7. Jesus Is Arrested
8. Jesus Before the Priests
9. Jesus Before the Magistrate
10. Jesus Before the People
11. Jesus Before the Soldiers
12. Jesus Is Beaten
13. Jesus Goes to His Execution
14. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
15. Jesus Dies
16. Jesus Is Buried
17. Jesus Among the Dead
18. Jesus Rises
19. Jesus Appears to Mary
20. Jesus Appears at Emmaus
21. Jesus Appears to His Friends
22. Jesus Returns to God
23. The Holy Spirit Arrives
24. The Trinity

Scripture quotation is from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon

“Coyolxauhqui Returns as Our Lady disguised as La Virgen de Guadalupe to defend the rights of Las Chicanas” by Alma Lopez

“Chulo De Guadalupe” by Tony de Carlo

Our Lady of Guadalupe brings a message of holy empowerment that speaks to LGBT people -- and angers Christian conservatives. Queer art based on Guadalupe is shown here for her feast day today (Dec. 12). She is an Aztec version of the Virgin Mary that appeared to Aztec peasant Juan Diego outside Mexico City on Dec. 12, 1531.


For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon

In Juan Diego’s vision, the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, addressing him as if he were a prince. It was astonishing because Mexico had been conquered 10 years earlier by Spaniards who claimed to have the one true faith. Following her instructions, he gathered roses in his cloak. An icon of her, looking just as Juan Diego described, was imprinted on the cloak as a miraculous sign. Our Lady of Guadalupe became a popular symbol of dignity and hope for the native people of Mexico, and by extension to indigenous or oppressed people everywhere.

The hill where Juan Diego had his vision used to be the site of an ancient temple to the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin. Her temple was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. Our Lady of Guadalupe (in Spanish Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Virgen de Guadalupe) asked for a church to be built in her honor right there, among the conquered people. That shrine is now the most popular Catholic pilgrimage destination, receiving more than 6 million visitors per year.

Even standard icons of Guadalupe are subversive because they show the Virgin as a dark-skinned Mexican, challenging the Euro-centric images of her as a blue-eyed white lady. The foremothers of the Mexican Guadalupe include the Black Madonnas, especially the medieval Spanish Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremdaura, Spain.

Those who took the liberating vision a step further to create queer Guadalupe art include Tony De Carlo, Alex Donis, Ralfka Gonzalez, Alma Lopez, and Jim Ru.

“Our Lady” by Alma Lopez

"Our Lady of Controversy" cover

Erotically alive, feminist and lesbian versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe are a common theme in the art of Alma Lopez, a Chicana artist and activist born in Mexico and raised in California. A huge controversy erupted over her “Our Lady,” a digital print showing the Virgin of Guadalupe in a bikini made of roses, exalted by a bare-breasted butterfly. Lopez says she intended it as a tribute to Our Lady, “inspired by the experiences of many Chicanas and their complex relationship to La Virgen de Guadalupe.”

Encuentro (Encounter)
by Alma Lopez

Death threats, censorship efforts, and violent protests brought national and international attention to Lopez’ “Our Lady” over the years as artistic freedom clashed with freedom of religion. In one of the most recent conflicts, thousands of negative messages compromised the email system of an Irish university that dared to exhibit it in 2011. (For details, see my previous post Our Lady and Queer Saints art attacked as blasphemy - Show support now!).

“Lupe and Sirena in Love”
by Alma Lopez

In 2001 Catholic authorities tried to have Lopez’ “Our Lady” removed from an exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. The debate is covered in the 2011 book “Our Lady of Controversy: Alma Lopez’s ‘Irreverent Apparition.’” from University of Texas Press. The anthology is edited by Alma Lopez and Alicia Gaspar de Alba. The two women were married in 2008, during the first brief period when same-sex marriage was legal in California.

“Our Lady” is erotic, but there is more overt lesbian content in some of the other images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that Lopez made. Her website, almalopez.net, includes images of a romance between Guadalupe and a mermaid in artwork such as “Lupe and Sirena in Love.”

The Aztec moon goddess Coyolxauhqui has been interpreted as a lesbian deity by Chicanas such as writer-activist Cherrie Moraga. Lopez paints Coyolxauhqui, machete in hand, as Guadalupe in the image at the top of this post: “Coyolxauhqui Returns as Our Lady disguised as La Virgen de Guadalupe to defend the rights of Las Chicanas.”

“Mary Magdalene and Virgen de Guadalupe” (from “My Cathedral”) by Alex Donis

Alex Donis painted the Virgin of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene as part of “My Cathedral,” a series that showed people of opposite viewpoints kissing in same-sex pairs. Donis was familiar with contradictions from his own “tri-cultural” identity: pop, queer, and Latino. Born to Guatemalan parents, he grew up in East Los Angeles.

His “My Cathedral” exhibit caused a frenzy when it opened in San Francisco in 1997. Heated arguments erupted in the gallery, followed by threatening phone calls and letters. Vandals smashed two of the artworks: Jesus kissing the Hindu god Rama, and guerilla leader Che Guevara kissing labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Most people overlooked his painting of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene, but it remains a potent, beautiful expression of the union of sexuality and spirituality. It is included in the book “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More by Kittredge Cherry..”

Guadalupe as Chenrezig by Ralfka Gonzalez

Outsider artist Ralfka Gonzalez adds an androgynous Buddhist interpretation by painting Guadalupe as the embodiment of compassion known as Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara or Kwan Yin. Tradition says the compassionate bodhisattva is both male and female. In the Gonzalez image, he/she is wrapped in Juan Diego's cloak.

Pictured here is the first of many “Buddha Lupe” images painted by Gonzalez. He is a self-taught Chicano artist and gay Latino activist who divides his time between Oaxaca, Mexico and San Francisco. He often paints Mexican and/or gay themes in a colorful folk-art style.

Artist Tony de Carlo affirms the holiness of gay love with bright, festive paintings of queer saints, Adam and Steve, same-sex marriage and much more. His genderbending “Chulo De Guadalupe” appears near the top of this post. In Mexican slang “chulo” refers to someone who is cute and, in some cases, sexy.

De Carlo, who died in 2014, was a native of Los Angeles. His work is exhibited regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States.For more on Tony De Carlo and his art, see my previous post: Gay saints, Adam and Steve, and marriage equality art affirm LGBT love: Tony De Carlo Interview.

"Virginia Guadalupe" by Jim Ru

Jim Ru painted a bearded drag queen version of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Titled “Virginia Guadalupe,” the painting was displayed in his show “Transcendent Faith: Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Saints” in Bisbee Arizona in the 1990s. He discusses it in a 2015 video.



These bold paintings certainly give new meaning to the title bestowed upon Guadalupe by Pope Pius XII: “Queen of Mexico.” If the Virgin Mary could appear to an Aztec as an Aztec, then why not show up to a queer as a queer?

Guadalupe tends to dominate discussions of Latina/o depictions of Mary, but other icons of the Virgin tend to be more important outside Mexico, such Our Lady of Lujan in Argentina. And artists are making queer versions of these other Virgins too. For example, Giuseppe Campuzano (1969-2013) of Peru cross-dressed as Our Lady of Sorrows in art portraits that appear in his book “Museo Travesti del Peru (The Peruvian Transgender Museum).”
___
Related links:
Virgen de Guadalupe Contemporary Art (Feminist Texican)

Decolonizing Sexuality and Spirituality in Chicana Feminist and Queer Art by Laura E. Perez (Tikkun)

A Visit to Alma Lopez’ Studio: Finding lesbian saints, mermaids, revolutionaries and goddesses (Jesus in Love)

Giuseppe Campuzano and the Museo Travesti del Perú (Hemisperic Institute)

To read this post en español, go to Santos Queer:
La Virgen de Guadalupe Queer: Artistas reinventan un icono

___

Various icons of Our Lady of Guadalupe and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores



_________
This post is part of the GLBT Saints series and LGBT Holidays series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, heroes and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year in the Saints series. The Holidays series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts