Date of Award
Spring 3-10-2020
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art
First Advisor
Rachel Lachowicz
Second Advisor
Michael Reafsnyder
Third Advisor
Amy Santofarraro
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2020 Sydney E Walters
Abstract
My work disrupts two kinds of power: gender roles in religious practices, and the perceived power of a ritual object. Constructions of gender and power are thrown onto a stage and cast in a sincere parody that ultimately liberates underrepresented people to perform with agency.
My larger-than-life figures examine who holds power in religious institutions. The figures challenge the intelligibility of their identity because she/they are dressed in religious regalia. In Western Catholicism, maleness is the pre-requisite for priesthood. These church leaders are distinguished by wielding specific religious regalia: i.e. the Ring of the Fisherman, Episcopal gloves, and globus crucigur. I visually transpose these religious relics on to women, thus marking her or them, rightful authorities in these same spiritual practice. Maleness is so normal in religious leadership that presenting a “woman in drag” or “transvestite Jesus,” challenges the normative structure of male leader and presents images luxuriating in the freedom of gender non-conforming religious expression.
Recommended Citation
Walters, Sydney, "Hail Mother" (2020). CGU MFA Theses. 187.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_mfatheses/187
