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Oil On Canvas Paper Mounted On Panel - Antiquity abounds with exceptional people whose origin and character are explained by miraculous virgin/deity-induced birth. Of the many accounts of a god intervening to cause conception, the Christian version is probably the most fundamental to Western culture. I am fascinated by the depictions of the story, from austere ancient icons and frescoes, through monumental Baroque and florid Rococo, to contemporary imaginings with numinous or starkly graphic renderings, including earbuds and telephones. My own version is meant to focus on issues of consent and boundaries. I have long wondered whether, despite her "ecce ancilla domini", whether Mary had a real choice or willingness to participate in the experiment. The glorification of submissive accord is questioned in this virgin's doubtful expression and her foreboding future of entrapment symbolized in the caged bird at her window. Not only are her boundaries being pushed, but to question the traditional telling pushes on the boundaries of what is really acceptable about this story.
Oil On Canvas Paper Mounted On Panel - Antiquity abounds with exceptional people whose origin and character are explained by miraculous virgin/deity-induced birth. Of the many accounts of a god intervening to cause conception, the Christian version is probably the most fundamental to Western culture. I am fascinated by the depictions of the story, from austere ancient icons and frescoes, through monumental Baroque and florid Rococo, to contemporary imaginings with numinous or starkly graphic renderings, including earbuds and telephones. My own version is meant to focus on issues of consent and boundaries. I have long wondered whether, despite her "ecce ancilla domini", whether Mary had a real choice or willingness to participate in the experiment. The glorification of submissive accord is questioned in this virgin's doubtful expression and her foreboding future of entrapment symbolized in the caged bird at her window. Not only are her boundaries being pushed, but to question the traditional telling pushes on the boundaries of what is really acceptable about this story.