Shrine of Black Madonna
The Black Madonna is the mother civilization. She birthed the material existence. The Black Madonna speaks to the cultural memory of the origins of humanity (n.d., Collins). Her dark skin revitalizes the earth. Her skin is filled with the richness of humanity. With colonialism and racism, her image faded into whiteness, her origins suppressed. This form of suppression is the result of white supremacy. Often Black WomXn's voices and images are buried. The Black Madonna overall is representative of Black WomXn.
The term Black Madonna or Black Virgin refers to art and beliefs of Black Western Christianity in which both the Virgin Mary and Jesus, who Mary birthed, were Black. Mary's image is associated with the "divine feminine archetype" (n.d., Norris). Usually, in a pale cloak and Eurocentric features, the Black Madonna serves as a counter-narrative. This representation serves as the "Queen of the Earth,...empowerment, transformation, and change… of the dark-skinned inhabitants of the Holy Land" [10].
The Black Church has roots in the idealogy and thinking of its surrounding community. The Black Church serves as the "undercommons," as described by Robin D. G. Kelley. In his "Black Study, Black Struggle," he writes that the undercommons was a "...network where a commitment to abolition and collectivity prevail[ed]" [11]. Although he spoke in a university context, the same concept existed within Black churches that educate its communities morally, socially, and politically since enslavement. For the past 400 years and more, my ancestors fought for the liberation of Black folX through varying social movements, with the Black Church playing a critical integral role. Through the undercommons, they fought for Blackness to be expansive rather than confined. The undercommons was a location where Black WomXn led abolition work. More specifically, Black WomXn have carried and conducted much of the legwork of social liberation movements in and through the church without proper representation in leadership.
In the “Ode (Owed) to Black WomXn” installation, there is a scene called The Shrine of the Black Madonna. The Black Madonna hangs from the ceiling, casting light into the church. Inside the church, the cherry blossoms peak inside to hear the service. Reverend Albert George, Jr. explains the significance of the church and WomXn's Day. WomXn's Day is usually a social gathering and service day, with a fundraiser with funds going to either the church's function or the continuation of more social programming. WomXn's Day at the Church of the Black Madonna highlights the work and significance of Black WomXn. Sonya Sanchez speaks to the congregation from the front of the church. In her speech, "Queens of the Universe," she says about Black WomXn's empowerment and the strength they hold. She speaks to Black WomXn's adaptability throughout time to survive for themselves and Black society. The camera cuts back to the Reverend discussing the significance of womXn in oppressed groups in passing down knowledge, heritage, and culture lay in the hands of Black WomXn.
The church's structure is designed to resemble a church I grew up in in Washington, DC. My church's infrastructure has reflected the communities surrounding them, frequently, with mXn as head figures and womXn socially impacting the community. While mXn commanded the Black church's pulpits and church power and social politics, womXn organized social services, missionary missions, and reading groups while fighting for social reform[12]. In developing the Black church's infrastructure, the theme of communal values and social initiatives among African-Americans were pushed as a solution to be an active participant in a capital system [13]. The same system has and still exploits them. Combatting an oppressive system since its formation, the Black church has been the center of this fight battling for liberation, while also suffering the effects and reflections of white supremacy that has influenced the structure and formation of the church system.
Black religious life continues to have significance in Black life. In a study done by the Pew Research Center in 2018 on African-Americans and religion, the center recorded that spiritual life is vital to 80% of Black women. 52% say they attend religious services at least once a week. No group of men or women from other racial or ethnic backgrounds exhibits comparably high spiritual observance levels [14]. Again, Black Christianity life is a crucial tool in Black life.
In understanding this significance, I also understand the uniqueness of the Black church for me personally. Attending as a child, the church was more than a place of worship. It was a sanctuary that called upon the ancestors. Behind the message that instructed humXns how to live on Earth to enter heaven or suffer hell, the messages for me were encrypted. It was not solely a song dedicated to God. When songs such as “Wade in the Water” were sung by the all-Black choir, goosebumps raised on my arms. I felt that the voices of the choir were invoking the heavens to open its doors and call upon the ancestors for guidance. It wasn't just the voice of the choir I heard. I heard my ancestors instructing us how to be free. I heard the voices of Black WomXn that have transitioned to the ancestral land join the choir, boosting their voice. As a Black child, I didn’t go to church to learn how to be a Christain, but instead to hear the voices of my ancestors.
Every third Sunday there was communion where we drank the “blood of Jesus” and ate bread. Though the “blood of Jesus” was just cranberry juice and "body of Christ" was a white cracker, this ritual showcased the sacrifice of Jesus to save us from our sins, ourselves. Eight-year-old Ivy would peek from behind the pews and see the white sheets that touched the table that held the juice and bread to be blessed over before being distributed to the congregation. The Black WomXn were ushers. Their hair was tightly wrapped in rollers the night before to get the big, bouncy curls that swung around their ears and rested on their shoulders. White hats that were constructed to defy gravity laid upon their crowns. The white blazers reached a middle point in their wrists to kiss their white gloves. With an iron-pressed white skirt that stretched past their knees with white stockings and white baby heels to match. Only WomXn could administer the communion to the congregation. As I child, I figured that womXn were only powerful enough to hold the “blood of Jesus” and the “body of Christ." Being that close to the divine, only Black WomXn were that close to that power to hold that responsibility.
My imaginations and observations as a child in church and being an adult, Black WomXn, there were deeper connections to Black spirituality that was able to sneak past white supremacy and survive the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and still influence the Black church. These influences were what held me to the Black church; to hear my ancestors and to connect with them. As I began to age in the church, I still did not pay any mind to the messages. When I occasionally decided to be in the present moment of listening in on the sermon, I heard phrases that “wom[X]n should” and “obey” and quickly became disconnected again. The sermons usually held messages of how our behavior should be on this Earth or suffering the consequences of our sins. At the age of ten, I felt that I was for certain that I was going to Hell. The constant scrutiny of my physical appearance and my behavior that was “unladylike” that was preached was none of the qualities I held. Seeing how they condemned Queer people in the church, I felt I did not need to be mentally present. While society may have judged me, my ancestors would not. The church was to me a place to be deeply connected to my ancstry. So thus, this installation is an invocation of calling the ancestors and honoring them.
Water will be used as a portal through time.
With the water used as a portal, a tool of the Afrofuture, water symbolizes the sacredness it has within the Black community. As water is essential to life, it is also used as a tool against Black communities in either denial of it, a weapon during the Civil Rights Movement on protestors, or environmental racism resulting in disasters impacting Black communities detrimentally. The water serves as a grounding tool in acknowledging the Afropessimism of the reality of imperialism's lasting effects on the African Diaspora. Water is where my Ancestors lay and rest, the ocean floor of unmarked graves.
Water is a recurrent theme in the Black community and church, for water represents; Black WomXn who died on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade; in songs of liberation; to water yielding power in Black baptismal. As you go on this journey, the water serves as a cyclical time portal. The archival footage serves to document at the earliest possible time that Black WomXn were molding and currently creating with the Afrofuture in mind, consciously and subconsciously.
Cisgender mXn's face will not be shown no more than 3 times.
We live in a world that privileges mXn subconsciously and consciously. In breaking and dismantling our patriarchal system's brainwashing and misogynoir, we must break from the automatic default of comparing our experiences with others. We can give insight, but the comparison of experiences leads to demeaning and minimizing of others. In challenging the world and societal standards and highlighting the varying intersections of Black life, spaces must coexist. In this space that is relating to Black WomXn, cisgender mXn are limited in appearance. In allowing for Black WomXn to frolic freely, a space must be created that is inclusive of solely them and their needs, free from misogynoir and those who resemble it.
[10} (n.d., Norris)
[11] (2016, Kelley)
12] (n.d., Butler, et al.)
[13] (1990, Evans, Jr.)
[14] (2018, Cox and Diamant)
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