Indulgences
3-CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION | MFA Thesis Project
Souls were at stake. When an angry Martin Luther affixed his Ninety-Five Theses in public view in 1517, precipitating the Protestant Reformation, he had many complaints against the Catholic Church. (Ninety-five, to be exact.) Chief among these was the selling of indulgences. This was a transactional practice—give the Church money, get time off of purgatory. Indulgences had a long history (and, technically, still exist today), but by the Renaissance things had gotten out of hand. As Luther was quick to point out, indulgences had become less about congregants’ salvation and more about augmenting the very worldly resources of the Church. The Holy Father in Rome, infallible? More like corrupt as hell. So Martin led a little schism.
I made this the year following the 500th anniversary of Luther’s Theses. I happened to read an article about them and ended up with indulgences on the brain. The word brought to mind lowfat yogurt and Dove chocolate commercials, with their portrayal of female temptation and “acceptable” satisfaction—women and their just desserts. After some percolation, I made this project.
Souls were at stake. When an angry Martin Luther affixed his Ninety-Five Theses in public view in 1517, precipitating the Protestant Reformation, he had many complaints against the Catholic Church. (Ninety-five, to be exact.) Chief among these was the selling of indulgences. This was a transactional practice—give the Church money, get time off of purgatory. Indulgences had a long history (and, technically, still exist today), but by the Renaissance things had gotten out of hand. As Luther was quick to point out, indulgences had become less about congregants’ salvation and more about augmenting the very worldly resources of the Church. The Holy Father in Rome, infallible? More like corrupt as hell. So Martin led a little schism.
I made this the year following the 500th anniversary of Luther’s Theses. I happened to read an article about them and ended up with indulgences on the brain. The word brought to mind lowfat yogurt and Dove chocolate commercials, with their portrayal of female temptation and “acceptable” satisfaction—women and their just desserts. After some percolation, I made this project.
Here we see three iconic women of the church—Eve, Mary Magdalene, and Mary (the Immaculate one). Eve bites into an apple—forbidden fruit. Mary M. eats and pits a cherry—she’s a little tart. Mother Mary appears to breastfeed, but instead reveals her breast to be a grapefruit half that she proceeds to juice—for the fruit of the womb? I shot their gestures with an Edgertronic high speed camera. Every movement becomes stretched, excruciatingly suspended. Placing food into the mouth is sensuous—chewing is not, especially in slow motion. Each woman appears in triptych, performing her gesture, lit with red and blue colored gels. Is it the same woman three times or three similar women? (The classic trinitarian conundrum!) The better question is: when will female bodily acceptance not be seen or felt as self-indulgent?