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A few days ago, I announced that we have ended this discussion that was triggered by my reposting of Ekene Umenwa ‘s “Virgin Mary” maternity pictures, but the comments I saw from that last post prompted me to make this post so as to clarify and summarise my points for the last time.
What we are talking about here is art. In art, every artist has what is called the artistic freedom of imagination and expression, which is protected by all national and international laws. Check what UNESCO says about this.
Yes, Jesus and Mary are biblical figures, but each artist could choose to represent them anyway his imagination could lead him or her to.
An artist could interpret John 1:14 [the word became flesh and dwelt among us] to mean that unless the word takes the flesh of the people it comes to, it can never dwell among them.
An artist could imagine Jesus playing with disabled children, where Jesus is presented as a “disabled” person sitting on a wheelchair in order to identify himself with the “disabled” community. He does not do so to mock Jesus.
To present the biblical story of the flight to Egypt to save the life of Jesus, an artist could paint a “black” Jesus, Mary and Joseph with the interpretation that they took the skin of the Egyptians in order to live with them. The artist does this to express the universal character of the gospel and of Jesus, who identifies with all people and cultures, not that he does not know how a normal Jew should look 2000 years ago.
In fact, an artist has the power to imagine and express any verse of the Bible the way he wants. And that is exactly what European Christian artists have done in the last 2000 years. This is why we have French, German, Italian, Portuguese, etc. paintings of Jesus and Mary.
As an African Christian, when you see a “black” Jesus holding an ofo or ikenga in his hand, your interest should be to find out the message the artist wants to communicate with it, rather than condemning it.
In Belgium, before an ancient church, I once saw the statue of a naked child Jesus with his genìtals exposed. But the artist was just communicating that Jesus, the son of God, was truly human. It was not meant to mock him.
I know a church in Germany where a skull and crossbones are painted on the wall of the alter. It also has a message different from what the skull and crossnones stand for many. It means: remember death and be careful on how you live your life.
I know a church in Germany where the statue of Jesus on the cross shows a “nasty” decomposing body of Jesus whose legs, hands, and sides no longer exist because they have rotten away. Of course this image contradicts what the Scriptures said about the death and body of Jesus, but the crucifix [cross] hung in the middle of the altar till date because of the message the artist would like to communicate with it.
The crucifix was made during a time when terr0rism was ravaging the world. After every bömb blast, a lot of victims’ parts were picked up dismembered. Some were found when they had started to decompose. The artist wanted to depict a crucified Jesus that identifies with such victims.
I know a church in Germany with a large, bent cross. When the cross was being mounted about 60 years ago, the helicopter hired to do so crashed on top of the church. 4 people inside the helicopter died. The artist who built the cross decided to bend it before it was successfully mounted again.
When he was asked why the cross is no longer standing straight, he said it was done to remember the 4 people that lost their lives.
You can draw a Jesus or Mary that is green, black, or blue; a Jesus that is on jeans, suit, Isiagu, or agbada; a Mary that is young, old, village girl, “slay queen,” tall, short, etc. You can even draw a Jesus suffering from one sickness or the other as long as it has something positive to communicate.
The question we should always try to find out is the message the artist, who has the freedom of imagination and expression, intends to pass across.
This is why the Vatican is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of various images of Jesus depicting various cultures, ages, ideologies, teachings, etc.
Yes, all the paintings of Jesus and Mary have a message. When you gather all these messages together, you have a complete gospel that leaves no people, nation, or group behind.
Remember also that the Christian images became popular at a time when the majority of people could neither read nor write. Arts became therefore the only means of communicating the events of the gospel to them using images they were familiar with.
In fact, this appears to be the most convincing reason to have images in the church at all against the instructions contained in the book of Exodus, which vehemently condemns it.
Fr Angelo Chidi Unegbu 15/09/2024
