Controversial Jesus Photograph Slashed in Gallery

21/04/11 | Posted by MattPage

One of the most controversial art works about Jesus has been vandalised by Christian protesters whilst on display in a gallery in France. The attack took place the day after a protest march by hundreds of French Catholic fundamentalists complaining about the work's inclusion at the Musée d'art Contemporain in Avignon. There has been tension in the city ever since the "I Believe in Miracles" exhibition began, with online petitions, criticisms of the piece by the Archbishop of Vaucluse and tens of thousands of emails objecting to the exhibition.

 Caption

The piece in question is a photograph by American artist Andres Serrano. At first glance it seems inoffensive enough. There’s a crucifix bathed in gentle amber light. It has a calming, tranquil feel about it. Such feelings change however when you read the piece’s title: “Piss Christ”. The beauty that you had been admiring turns to revulsion. You’ve been starring at a plastic crucifix dunked in a vat of urine.

It’s easy to see why such revelation can lead to offence and protest, even if it’s harder to comprehend the violence and vandalism. On the surface the photograph looks like a direct affront, a vile and calculated attack on the person of Jesus. But I can’t help wondering if there is a little more to it than that.

Serrano was brought up a Catholic and it’s possible to read the work in different ways. After all it’s not Jesus himself that is doused in urine, but a plastic crucifix. The significance of such a distinction may not seem immediately apparent. After all the crucifix is a symbol not only of Jesus, but his world-saving death. Serrano’s objection is not about Jesus and his death, but the way that the church has, at times, cheapened and commercialised his sacrifice. It’s a plastic crucifix - cheaply-made, mass-produced, churned out of a factory for profit. Put that way, far from being an offence to God, it almost sounds vaguely reminiscent of Jesus’ purging of the temple.

Serano himself has identified his piece as a critique of the “billion-dollar Christ-for-profit industry”. In other words it is saying ‘I piss on your tame, plastic commercialised Jesus; on the way that you’ve taken Jesus’ ultimate expression of love and turned it into a tacky trinket. And if that is his intention then it seems to me that it’s something to be supported rather than destroyed.

Back to the top

Please bookmark this post at Facebook or Twitter:     

Your comments