Created in the ongoing aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the #BlackLivesMatter protests after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 (and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery the same year), Mary2020 is an exploration and testament to hope, beauty and faith in the midst of despair, pain and hopelessness.
I created the piece while observing Advent and reflecting on the Virgin Mary, who in many ways was marginalized as a young woman. Living in a in a patriarchal culture living under the thumb of a brutal, Western imperial power, she faced social scorn and discrimination, and bore shame due to her unwed pregnancy However, the very thing causing her to be shamed, shunned, excluded and marginalized was the very work of God literally inside her: the upcoming birth and life of Jesus Christ. In the Christian story, and the Hebrew Bible and New Testament in general, it is as St. Paul so eloquently wrote: “But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
May this piece be a testament to that beautiful truth, that God has chosen and called those who the world despises and treats as nothing, because He has something much more beautiful in mind – and none of our foolish social divisions, power structures, or weaponized narratives will stand in His glory and presence.