_The Glorious Mysteries: The Assumption of Mary Into Heaven_

The Glorious Mysteries: The Assumption of Mary Into Heaven

Oil on cradled canvas

6' x 4.5'

December 11 - 20, 2020

In this painting, Mary is assumed into heaven above a tropical, Philippine landscape. She is dressed in 1920s carnival queen attire; this was a huge, annual pageant that was looked forward to in San Fernando, Pampanga where I was born, through the onset of the Second World War. 

The ribbons round Mary's waist are representative of the contemporary movements for gender equality, breast cancer awareness, and the fight against domestic violence on women and children, which she brings to heaven like prayer banners.

I deliberately syncretized Mary's figure with that of Chang-O, the legendary, Chinese goddess of the moon, who obtained from her husband the elixir of immortality and then ascended to the moon. Interestingly, the Catholic feast day of the Assumption, August 15, is closely followed, from mid-August to September depending on the lunar year, by the Chinese Moon/Mooncake Festival. It was typical of the early Catholic Church to syncretize its feast days with "pagan" festival dates.

The planet Venus, a symbol of woman, shines at the top of the painting.

The pandemic is still on and I continue to refuse to admit outsiders and models into my studio. My granddaughter Aubrey sat for the figure of Mary.

The auditory stimulus I used while making this painting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Oxwnf1lPE. Do listen to it while viewing the painting.