I was just about to send a quick e-mail to my Theological Aesthetics friends to share this treasure. As I started to add more and more names in the "to" field of my e-mail, I thought I would sieze the opportunity and make a Theological Aesthtetics blog where this conversation can be shared with and enriched by a larger audience. Welcome!
The first posting features a work that I just stumbled upon in my art and religion research: the Beautiful Hawaiian Madonna and Child by Delos Blackmar, painted in 1940 "out of gratitude for the hospitality extended to him by the [Holy Innocents' Church in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii] church."1 A mother and her infant from Lahaina posed for the painting, creating a powerful image of the holy which not only included, but mirrored the local people. Even the foliage is native, such as the red ginger on the left which as the author notes symbolizes royalty.
Combining the blessings of spending summers on Molokai as a youth, being raised by a mother with botanical training, and having developed my own spiritual and scholarly passion for iconography, I contribute another Beautiful symbolic observation. The colorful Ti leafs featured behind Christ's head are often planted around Hawaiian homes to ward off malevolant spirits. How fitting that they should accentuate the radiance of the halo belonging to He who is sent into our world to redeem us from the evil of sin.
Furthermore, Ti leafs are often used at luaus (parties) as colorful decoration and even wrapping paper as it has long been equated with the notion of gift. The Ancient Hawaiians wrapped stones in Ti leaves as an offering and sign of respect to the Ancient Hawaiian gods. In the painting Christ has replaced the stone within the Ti leaf wrapping of the pagan tradition; He is enveloped in the both the Ti leaves and Mary's arms, and almost tethered to her lei, a symbol of love that is both given and received. Christ is indeed a heavenly gift of love to us all, one that is continually given and received each Mass in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Thanks be to God!
Notes:
1) Diana Lockwood, "Churches of Hawaii," Hawaiian Designin' Quarterly: The Magazine of the Designs and Crafts of Hawaii, issue 7, 1983, p. 21.
