(Mother) mary
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(MOTHER) MARY, approximately 18BCE - 55CE, Nazareth
Celebrated globally, the Christmas story has endured for over 2000 years with 2.4 billion people annually celebrating the birth of a man called Christ - but we’ve forgotten about Mary. Her portrayal in the Garden of Even™ is a retelling of the significance of Her historical role and the message She brings: there is always the opportunity for something new to be born.
For over 2,000 years, Mary has been presented as the ideal woman: quiet, compliant, unquestioning. In fact, the picture we see of Mary today is one of devout imagination.
When we place Mary back in history we see a story of Mary emerge as a revolutionary visionary who birthed a new power dynamic and vision on how to be a human in an imperfect world.
The piece explores the question, “what if we had acknowledged and celebrated Mary’s curiosity, consent, courage, and active participation in creating a new vision for the world?” During Mary’s lifetime, her homeland was under Roman occupation after nearly two centuries as an independent kingdom. While the Roman gods were portrayed as massive, powerful and victorious, Mary flips the script by delivering a new kind of power - not one found only in the powerful and pious - but a divine energy found in everyone. She included and empowered those who were suffering, in despair, and feeling the weight of oppression.
As the “perpetual virgin” she has been propped up as a somewhat impossible and un-relatable “role model” for women, used to control women’s roles and bodies - particularly sexuality.
This piece aims to personify Mary in a way that feminist scholars regard Her story - as a much more powerful and historical figure. One who, held subversive, anti-imperialist views and Her role in shaping her son’s ministry was more powerful than is typically believed. Mary is the woman who gave birth to a whole new way of ‘being’ in the world - a way of connecting to the divine directly.
When we acknowledge and celebrate Mary’s courage, consent and active participation in creating a new vision for the world, we see a new power dynamic emerge, one that can end cycles of violence and systems of oppression, and recognizes our own power to create lasting generational change. Her portrayal in the Garden of Even™ is as a revolutionary-visionary who shows us that there is always the opportunity for something new to be born.
Artwork in collaboration by Moonjube.
