Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Arrives (Gay Passion of Christ series)

23. The Holy Spirit Arrives (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“There appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” -- Acts 2:3-4 (RSV)

A winged woman literally lights up a crowd in “The Holy Spirit Arrives” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. This is a modern version of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came like tongues of fire to the disciples of Jesus and inspired them to speak in other languages. Pentecost is a major church holiday celebrated today (May 19, 2013) this year. It is also known as Whitsunday.

For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Pentecost: Holy Spirit brings LGBTQ visions


In Blanchard’s painting the Holy Spirit floats like an angel above the people at an intersection where darkened city streets meet at odd angles. Carrying flares in both hands, she looks like a flame in her golden gown. The dusky sky and unlit buildings strike a mysterious mood, making miracles possible. Tongues of fire literally flame up from the heads of the people on the streets. Many are arm in arm, forming a circle. Filled with the spirit, they make strange alliances. A soldier, a gangbanger, and a businessman wrap their arms around each other. An older woman and a younger woman embrace. The person in the wheelchair appears to be the same hothead who demanded the death of Christ in 10. Jesus Before the People. Looming behind them is a large building under construction.

The painting gives visual form to a moment of spiritual transcendence. “The Holy Spirit Arrives” is the only painting in Blanchard’s Passion series that does not show Jesus. And yet Jesus IS present within the people. They have been transformed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. Everyone is enflamed -- not just the twelve apostles. Christ has multiple manifestations both inside and outside the church in today’s pluralistic society. The painting also hints that Jesus is present in the form of the Holy Spirit. They both have the same face. This, Blanchard says, is deliberate. By making Jesus and the Holy Spirit look alike, he emphasizes that they are one being. Christ, who is both male and female, can easily change genders.

The story of Pentecost is told in Acts 2 of the Bible. The apostles were sitting together indoors early one morning when they heard wind rushing. Tongues of fire landed on each of them. Inspired by the Spirit, they spoke in other tongues and a crowd gathered. Devout people from all over the world were amazed to hear the mighty works of God in their own languages. But some scoffed, so Peter explained by quoting a prophecy from the Book of Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and the young shall see visions, and the old shall dream dreams.” -- Acts 2:17 (Inclusive Language Lectionary) Jesus himself predicted that the Holy Spirit would come after him to empower his disciples to do “even greater things” than he did. He referred to the Holy Spirit with the Greek term paraclete, which means advocate, comforter, or teacher. The word rendered as “Spirit” also denotes wind or breath. The early church taught that the arrival of the Holy Spirit reopened paradise, which had been closed by human sin. Christians believe that the Holy Spirit continues to inspire believers in the present, especially in times of trouble or celebration.

Blanchard takes Pentecost out into the streets and humanizes it by presenting the Holy Spirit as a woman. In church texts the Holy Spirit is sometimes described as the female person of the Trinity. She is known as Sophia, the embodiment of Wisdom. But at other times She is referred to as “He,” a rather queer blurring of gender duality. Blanchard’s bold female Holy Spirit is one of the most unusual features of this painting from an art historical perspective. Artists generally depict the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as a descending dove, not as a woman. Blanchard gives her the wings of a dove. The shape of the building behind the Holy Spirit also looks like a dove, mirroring the shape in the background of “21. Jesus Appears to His Friends.” Paintings of Pentecost are often called “The Descent of the Holy Spirit,” but Blanchard removes the top-down implications by titling it “The Holy Spirit Arrives.”

Earlier in the Passion series the crowd strained to touch Christ or follow his lead, but now they have absorbed his teachings and indeed his spirit. The transformation of the crowd on Pentecost becomes more visible when contrasted with the masses who marched with Jesus on Palm Sunday. Blanchard’s second painting and the second-to-last paintings are paired, just like the first and last. In the past the crowd marched into the city carrying signs, but they didn’t look at each other. Now they have no need for placards or slogans. Turning to each other, they find among themselves the freedom and justice that they had sought to gain. They have been tested in ways that were unimaginable on Palm Sunday and forged into true community. They experience God effortlessly, involuntarily. Despite their otherworldly flames, they are more present in the world than they were before. The Palm Sunday setting was sterile and empty except for the triumphal arch, but this crowd gathers on a realistic city street where people actually live.

The Biblical idea of a fire burning on one’s head is scary as well as implausible, but the flames brought by Blanchard’s Holy Spirit look friendly and tame, like birthday candles. Sometimes Pentecost is called the birthday of the church. Like the burning bush of Moses, the holy fire doesn’t consume. The building under construction in the background can be interpreted as the foundation of the Christian church. The artist himself offered an alternative view: “I prefer to think of it as a reference to the story of the Tower of Babel.” The Holy Spirit turns her back on the half-built structure that symbolizes ungodly human arrogance, destined to be toppled by God.

Many of the previous paintings have a tight, sometimes claustrophobic focus. Blanchard’s Pentecost comes like a breath of fresh air that shows the big picture at last. The past comes into perspective and the viewer can see the neighborhood where Jesus lived and died. Blanchard says that he did not intend any particular location. Intersections like this are common in New York City. One of the many places it resembles is the site of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire where 146 garment workers died, the deadliest industrial disaster in New York history. That destructive fire contrasts with the transformative flames of the Spirit.

Viewers may be surprised to find Pentecost in a series on the Passion of Christ. Artists do not always conclude the Passion narrative with Jesus’ death, resurrection, or even his ascension. Blanchard acknowledges that one of the inspirations for this series is Albrecht Durer’s Albrecht Durer’s Small Passion. He follows the Durer’s example by continuing the Passion for two more panels after the Ascension. Both artists portray Pentecost as the next-to-last image. In Blanchard’s gay Passion, Pentecost is a stopping point near the end of the road from prison to paradise

Progressive Christians recognize the work of the Spirit when churches begin to embrace LGBT members, bless same-sex marriages, ordain openly LGBT clergy, and teach queer theology. In light of Pentecost, it may be significant that the most outrageously effeminate gay men have been disparaged as “flaming.” The bundles of sticks used to burn heretics were called “faggots,” now an insult for gay men.

The Pentecost story is good news for LGBT people because the Holy Spirit comes to ALL people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Spirit ignites the desire to be true to oneself, even when that means being fully, flagrantly queer. LGBT people can identify with the Holy Spirit’s combustible mix of male and female. The Holy Spirit, whose own gender is ambiguous, welcomes those who are called bulldykes or fairies, amazons or eunuchs, transfolk or genderqueer, two-spirit or third-gender. Every language has words for queer people, and the story of Jesus has been translated into many languages. Thanks to the multi-lingual marvels of Pentecost, the gospel is now available with a gay accent.

“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and the young shall see visions, and the old shall dream dreams.” -- Acts 2:17  (Inclusive Language Lectionary)

Jesus promised his friends that the Holy Spirit would come to empower them. They were together in the city on Pentecost when suddenly they heard a strong windstorm blowing in the sky. Tongues of fire appeared and separated to land on each one of them. Jesus’ friends were flaming, on fire with the Holy Spirit! Soon the Spirit led them to speak in other languages. All the excitement drew a big crowd. Good people from every race and nation came from all over the city. They brought their beautiful selves like the colors of the rainbow. Each one was able to hear about God in his or her own language. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we too can hear and speak God’s story. We are the flaming friends of Christ!

Come, Holy Spirit, and kindle a flame of love in my heart.

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Related links:
Pentecost comes alive with erotic Christ (excerpt from the novel “At the Cross”)

The queer day of Pentecost (BleakTheology.com)
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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.

Scripture quotations are from the Inclusive Language Lectionary, copyright © 1985-88 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Adam and Steve welcome marriage equality

“Adam and Steve in 14 Countries” by Tony De Carlo

Congratulations to Minnesota for becoming the 12th state to approve marriage equality today! And a belated congrats to New Zealand for legalizing marriage equality last month!

In honor of these events, here is “Adam and Steve in 14 Countries” by Tony De Carlo -- the newest in his ever-expanding Adam and Steve series. He began the series in response to people who oppose LGBT rights with the foolish argument that “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

In this painting Adam and Steve, the original same-sex couple, stand together on an island made of flags. “I cut this out with my scroll saw from a piece of plywood, used the obvious biblical references and then added the flags of the 14 countries that now recognize marriage equality for all of its citizens,” De Carlo said. Those countries are: Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

Soon he will probably have to paint a new version as more states and countries legalize marriage for lesbian and gay couples. How can we keep up with all this equality?!

De Carlo is a native of Los Angeles, now living in Savannah, Georgia. 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 & Steve, and marriage equality art affirms LGBT love: Tony De Carlo Interview (Jesus in Love)

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Related links:
TonyDeCarlo.com

Tony De Carlo on Facebook

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

Ascension Day: Jesus Returns to God (Gay Passion of Christ series)

22. Jesus Returns to God (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” -- Acts 1:9 (RSV)

A male couple seems to dance skyward in a vision of the Ascension from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Doug Blanchard, a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. Churches celebrate the Feast of the Ascension today (May 9).

The loving couple seems to dance in a mystical homoerotic union. Jesus, shirtless and wearing blue jeans, swoons in the arms of a dance partner who appears to be a hunky angel. But they both have crucifixion wounds on their wrists. Jesus is embraced directly by God! The position of their arms suggests a ballroom dance, perhaps a waltz, with God’s hand planted firmly on Jesus’ buttocks.

Detail from "Jesus Returns to God"

Beams of white light stream from God’s head in a bright sunburst, almost obliterating the blue sky. His wings look muscular, as if God must work hard to lift the dead weight of Jesus up from the earth. The wounds in Jesus’ wrists and feet were dark before, but now they glow like hot-pink jewels. Dissolving into white at the top, this is the lightest painting in Blanchard’s Passion series, contrasting with the pitch-black panel of “Jesus Among the Dead.” Now the misty clouds even spill over the frame on the lower left. The Bible and creeds make it clear where the dancing couple is headed. Soon Jesus will sit at the right hand of God.

“Jesus Returns to God” provides a gay vision of the Ascension, the transitional moment when the resurrected Christ left earth. Details vary, but all Biblical accounts agree that Jesus was with his followers when he was lifted up to heaven. Churches commemorate the event with the Feast of the Ascension forty days after Easter. Christian tradition emphasizes that the resurrected Jesus ascended bodily up into the clouds of heaven. Mortal human flesh was made radiant by becoming part of God. Therefore it is appropriate for this image to have a physical, erotic component, even though many viewers find it disturbing.

People tend to react strongly to this image. Some find it too sexual and recoil at the thought of “God’s hand on my butt.” (At least God has no body below the waist here!) Others welcome the painting because it removes the shame of sexuality, presenting queer love as holy. Sacred same-sex kisses are rarer in art than gay bashings, so the most daring part of Blanchard’s Passion series occurs here after Jesus dies. Holy gay kisses also upset people more than gay bashings. With this image Blanchard’s series truly becomes a “gay vision” as the title proclaims. There is no longer any doubt about whether Jesus was simply an ally of queer people. The full revelation of his gay sexual orientation does not happen in his lifetime, but is disclosed in the afterlife by Blanchard. Some people wish the series stopped right before this image. Others would prefer it started here.

Blanchard breaks new ground by combining the Ascension with the Christian concept of “mystical marriage” from a gay viewpoint, making this one of the most original paintings in the series. In Christian theology the Ascension serves to emphasize the reality of Jesus as both human and divine. It is seen as the consummation of God’s union with humanity. “Mystical marriage” is a separate Christian concept in which the love between God and people is compared to a human marriage, including the sexual ecstasy between bride and groom. Erotic union becomes a metaphor for union with God.

God appears here for the first time in Blanchard’s Passion series. The artist paints God with some extraordinary attributes: He has wings, wounds, and the same face as Jesus. It is unusual to see a painting of God with wings, even though there are several Biblical references to humanity being protected by or carried by God’s wings. Perhaps the wings here symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit. Standard images show God and Jesus as father and son, but Blanchard makes them look like gay lovers or the same person in two places, further emphasizing his theme of God in solidarity with humanity. Usually only Jesus has crucifixion wounds, but here the all-powerful creator is also a wounded deity, injured by choosing mortality in order to show people the way to life.

The mystical marriage and “Christ the Bridegroom” are uncommon subjects in art history, but the Ascension has been painted many times over the centuries. Ascension images generally have two zones: a crowd of apostles watching from earth below and Christ rising up toward heaven above. Jesus is frequently shown with his right hand raised in a gesture of blessing. Sometimes just his feet are visible as he disappears into the clouds. Artists seldom depict only Jesus and God without the people below, as Blanchard does. A notable exception is the famed “Ascension” by 20th-century surrealist Salvador Dali, which is dominated by the soles of Jesus’ feet as he flies upward.

While it fits neatly into the Passion series, “Jesus Returns to God” can also stand alone as a gay-affirming vision of ecstatic union with God. The mixed response to the painting raises questions about how artists can visually code Jesus as queer without being too literal. Conservative Christians have made many LGBT people think of Jesus as their enemy. How far should an artist go to counteract that? For some viewers, anything more than a subtle hint is too sexually explicit or reduces the mystery of Christ to a billboard. Others need a boldly out-and-proud Jesus to prove that God loves LGBT folk. Blanchard strikes a balance by showing Jesus as an ordinary man swept up in a homoerotic dance with God.

“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” -- Isaiah 62:5 (RSV)

Words and pictures cannot express all the bliss that Jesus felt when he returned to God. Some compare the joy of a soul’s union with the divine to sexual ecstasy in marriage. Perhaps for Jesus, it was a same-sex marriage. Jesus drank in the nectar of God’s breath and surrendered to the divine embrace. They mixed male and female in ineffable ways. Jesus became both Lover and Beloved as everything in him found in God its complement, its reflection, its twin. When they kissed, Jesus let holy love flow through him to bless all beings throughout timeless time. Love and faith touched; justice and peace kissed. The boundaries between Jesus and God disappeared and they became whole: one Heart, one Breath, One. We are all part of Christ’s body in a wedding that welcomes everyone.

Jesus, congratulations on your wedding day! Thank you for inviting me!

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Bible background
Song of Songs: “O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!”

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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.

Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus

“Julian of Norwich” by Brother Robert Lentz, OFM, TrinityStores.com

Julian of Norwich is a medieval English mystic who celebrated “Mother Jesus.” It’s not known if Julian herself was queer, but her ideas were. Julian is often listed with LGBT saints because of her genderbending visions of Jesus and God. Her feast day (May 8) always falls near Mother’s Day (May 12, 2013).

Her discussions of Jesus as a mother sound radical even now, more than 600 years later. In today’s understanding, Julian’s Jesus seems to be transgender! Her omnigendered vision of the Trinity fits with contemporary feminist and queer theology.


For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus

Mother’s Day is also a great time to honor mothers whose love for their gay children helped launch LGBT organizations, including: Jeanne Manford and Adele Starr, founders of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); and Edith “Mom” Perry of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC).

Julian of Norwich (c.1342-1416) is the first woman to write a book in English. The book, “Revelations of Divine Love,” recounts a series of 16 visions that she experienced from May 8-13, 1373 during a severe illness when she was 30 years old. The book includes Julian’s most famous saying, “All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well” -- words spoken to her by God in one of Julian’s visions.

Julian of Norwich
from Wikimedia Commons

Later Julian went on to become an anchoress, a type of recluse who lives in a cell attached to a church and does contemplative prayer. Her hermit’s cell was at the Church of St. Julian in Norwich. The cell had two windows, one opening to the church and the other opening to the street. She became known throughout England for the spiritual counseling that she gave there.

Julian is considered the first Catholic to write at length about God as mother. Her profound ideas speak powerfully today to women and queer people of faith. “As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother,” Julian wrote.

Here are a few short quotes from Julian’s extensive writings about “Mother Jesus”:

“So Jesus Christ who sets good against evil is our real Mother. We owe our being to him--and this is the essence of motherhood! --and all the delightful, loving protection which ever follows. God is as really our Mother as he is our Father.“ (Chapter 59)

“So Jesus is our true Mother by nature at our first creation, and he is our true Mother in grace by taking on our created nature.” (Chapter 59)

“A mother can give her child milk to suck, but our dear mother Jesus can feed us with himself, and he does so most courteously and most tenderly with the holy sacrament, which is the precious food of life itself… The mother can lay the child tenderly to her breast, but our tender mother Jesus, he can familiarly lead us to his blessed breast through his sweet open side….” (Chapter 60)

These quotes come from modern English translations of “Revelations of Divine Love” by Elizabeth Spearing and Clifton Wolters. For longer quotations Click here.

The sacred feminine is just one of the many revelations that have endeared Julian to the public. She also uses objects from ordinary life to illustrate God’s loving, forgiving nature. For example, in one vision God shows Julian a small object like a hazel-nut in the palm of her hand. Julian writes:

“I looked at it and thought, 'What can this be?' And the answer came to me, 'It is all that is made.' I wondered how it could last, for it was so small I thought it might suddenly disappear. And the answer in my mind was, 'It lasts and will last forever because God loves it; and in the same way everything exists through the love of God'.” (Chapter 5)

In the icon at the top of this post, Julian looks out the window of her cell with her beloved cat. As an anchoress, she probably lived alone. It is said that the only other being to share her room was a cat -- for the practical purpose of keeping it free from rats and mice. A longstanding legend tells of Julian’s friendship with her cat companion. The icon was painted by Robert Lentz, a Franciscan friar based in New York. Known for his innovative icons, he was rebuked by the church for painting LGBT saints and God as female.

Julian lived a long life. The date of her death is unknown, but records show that she was still alive at age 73 to receive an inheritance. She was never formally canonized, but Julian is considered a saint by popular devotion. The Episcopal and Lutheran Churches keep her feast day on May 8.

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Related link:
Juliana de Norwich: Celebración de la Madre Jesús (Santos Queer)
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Related links for Mother's Day:
Jeanne Manford: PFLAG founder loved her gay son

Adele Starr and others: Patron saints for straight allies of LGBT people

Edith “Mom” Perry, mother of Troy Perry and first heterosexual member of the Metropolitan Community Churches
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This post is part of the LGBT Saints 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.
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Icons of Julian of Norwich and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at TrinityStores.com





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Reclaiming sainthood: Gay artist Tony O’Connell finds holiness in LGBT people and places

“Saint Ryan, Patron of Learning the Arts” by Tony O’Connell

British artist Tony O’Connell documents the sacred side of queer people and places. He takes photos of saintly moments among ordinary LGBT people and records his own pilgrimages to LGBT historical sites.

“My initial idea was an attempt to reclaim the idea of holiness as a gay artist,” O’Connell says. Based in Liverpool, he was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, but has been a practicing Buddhist since 1995.

“The intention was to democratize the notion of sacredness and the process of canonization. We do not need the permission of anyone else to see perfection in each other,” he explains.

Since 1998 he has been photographing people with haloes formed by round objects from daily life: light fixtures, mirrors, windows, baskets, the sun -- and even life ring buoys. “The act of noticing the moment where a physical circle as a symbol of a halo was present is an artistic parallel to noticing those qualities in the real people themselves,” O’Connell says.

He started with portraits of himself with haloes, and then expanded to his partner and LGBT friends. Eventually he included straight allies and strangers as he took the halo concept to its logical conclusion. “The images are just examples of something that is present in them, in you, in me and in all,” he explains.

Religions traditionally use the halo to denote people of exceptional saintliness or perfection, implying that others are less worthy. “It strikes me as truer and more logical to recognize that every consciousness has the potential for some growth toward light, be that internal or external,” O’Connell says. “If only one could glimpse or even capture the fleeting instance of perfection, compassion and wisdom in ordinary experience which are easy to overlook. If such moments could be recorded on the snap-shot camera or the phone in the pocket, would anyone believe them?”

None of the saints in his photos have been recognized by the church yet. But O’Connell did convince famous LGBT activist Peter Tatchell to pose for a quick halo portrait after a lecture on the plight of LGBT people in Iraq.

LGBT rights activisit Peter Tatchell appears in “Saint Peter the Protector” by Tony O’Connell

In 2008 O’Connell began displaying the saint photos in churches and other small venues at exhibitions named “Perfectly Ordinary” and “Be in that Number.” Some churches complemented the images with Gregorian chants playing in the background and frankincense fragrance in the air.

O’Connell’s saint photos will be shown in America at the “Sacred Voices” exhibit at the Canton Museum of Art in Canton, Ohio from Dec. 5, 2013 to March 2, 2014. It features contemporary Christian, Jewish, and Muslim artists who are seeking to express their faith through their art.

“Prostrations at the Holy Places and Veneration to Our Martyrs (Stonewall Pilgrimage)” by Tony O’Connell shows the artist praying at the bar where the LGBT rights movement began.

Recently O’Connell began a new series on LGBT pilgrimages, which he does as performances recorded in photos. He travels to places of importance in LGBT history, treating the trip as a pilgrimage to the shrine of a saint. His first pilgrimage led to the San Francisco Metro station named after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk. “The traditional Buddhist offerings for saints and Bodhisattvas are water, food, perfume, incense and flowers so I took them to his shrine and made prostrations,” O’Connell said.

Earlier this year he made a pilgrimage to New York City's Stonewall Inn, where rebellion against police harassment in 1969 launched the modern LGBT liberation movement. His next destination is Manchester, England. He plans to leave offerings on a memorial bench there dedicated Alan Turing, a gay computer scientist driven to suicide by attempts to “cure” his homosexuality.

In the future O’Connell plans to do icons as tributes to well known LGBT figures such as Milk, Turing and AIDS activist Larry Kramer.

The following images are selected from more than 200 saint photos taken by O’Connell. All of the saints in these pictures are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. While the artist’s ultimate purpose is to show that sainthood is non-exclusive, the Jesus in Love Blog is highlighting only LGBT saints here in order to balance centuries of religious oppression against queer people.

“Saint Antoinette Who Comforts the Sorrowful and Gives Courage” by Tony O’Connell honors a caring friend. Saint Antoinette and her partner Saint Lindsay helped the artist through the grief of losing his mother.

“Liberated Being (Saint Tony Travels to the Land of the Free)” by Tony O’Connell is a self-portrait of the artist on the way to Ellis Island. He stands back-to-back with another liberated being in the distance: The Statue of Liberty.

“Saint Lindsay Filled with Joy by a Vision of the Rainbow Covenant with Heaven” by Tony O’Connell shows a friend who chose her own halo for this portrait on the waterfront in Liverpool.

“Saint Kevin and Saint Tony on the Feast of Sergius and Bacchus” by Tony O’Connell shows the artist on the right with his partner Kevin. It is one of his rare diptych images of paired saints. The double-halo composition echoes a 7th-century icon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.

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This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery.

Traditional and alternative saints, martyrs, mystics, prophets, witnesses, heroes, holy people, humanitarians, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered in the GLBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry.

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