The Divine Body, 2005
These images are directly inspired by the Nag Hammadi Library, ancient so-called “Gnostic” texts that were considered heretical by the early Church Fathers. They were discovered Nag Hammadi Egypt in 1945 and have completely changed the understanding of who early Christians were and what they believed. During graduate school, I began working with Elaine Pagels to explore how the narratives in these ancient texts might have changed the Christian pictorial tradition (among other things!) had they remained a part of the biblical tradition. Within these texts, God is described as female and well as male; sexuality is inherit in the procreative principles of the universe; and Mary Magdalene plays a prominent role in the life of Jesus Christ. These ancient writings have the power, for me, to completely change the traditional narrative of the life of Christ and all that it represents.