Beate Minkovski acknowledges that some may be offended by “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,” an art exhibit about the Virgin Mary opening tonight at Woman Made Gallery. “We always do a show like this after the holidays because people need sobering up,” she says, citing last year’s self-explanatory offering, “Holy Baloney.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Though “sacrilege” may be the first word that comes to mind when viewing some of the artwork, Minkovski says the most appropriate term to describe the exhibit is “honesty,” citing the oft-mentioned truism that if Mary were to give birth to Jesus today she’d be condemned as an unwed teenage mother. But perhaps no other religious figure comes as close to defining cultural ideals of womanhood.
Chicagoan Mary Ellen Croteau portrays the Blessed Virgin in a more traditional pose, looking deceptively serene from a distance. Upon closer inspection, the viewer notices her body is covered with hundreds of newspaper headlines, such as “Man indicted in wife’s slaying” and “Rape victim dies of stab wounds.” Minkovski says, “You know women aren’t put on a pedestal when you look at this.”
