Blasphemous feminist art: Incarnate politics of identity in post secular society

Abstract

Among the increasing number of publicly exhibited works of art that have become accused of blasphemy or sacrilege in the context of cultural identity politics in Western societies, religiously connoted feminist art works and performances seem to stand out and to fulfil a particularly provocative role. The concerned works of art have remarkable common traits in their disputed imagery. They connect almost palpable and often naked human bodies to iconic sacred scenes of Western Christian culture and art, such as the suffering Jesus Christ on the cross, the Last Supper, the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus, or the Pietà (Mater Dolorosa). Well known examples are works such as Ecce Homo by Elisabeth Ohlson (Sweden), I.N.R.I. by Serge Bramly and Bettina Rheims (France), Yo Mama’s Last Supper by Renée Cox (USA), Our Lady by Alma López (USA), The Blood Ties by Katarzyna Kozyra (Poland), and Passion by Dorota Nieznalska (Poland). More recently, also songs and acts consisting of social, political, and religious critique, performed ‘provocatively’ by pop and punk artists such as Madonna, Lady Gaga, and the Russian formation Pussy Riot, have become publicly contested for comparable reasons. All these works of visual or performative art have been accused — more or less formally — of blasphemy or sacrilege, which contributed to both their notoriety and their controversiality by causing huge media attention.