-Caveat Lector-
Updated Jesus Image Has Dark Skin
By DAVID CRARY
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - A painting of a dark-skinned Jesus, by an artist who used a
woman as a model, has been selected by a Catholic publication as the winner
of its contest to update the image of Christ for the new millennium.
The painting, ``Jesus of the People,'' was selected from nearly 1,700 entries
for the cover of a special millennium issue being published this week by the
National Catholic Reporter, an independent newsweekly and one of the
best-known Catholic publications in the country.
``My goal was to be as inclusive as possible,'' said the artist, Janet
McKenzie, from her studio in Island Pond, Vt. ``At first glance, he is a
black or African-American Jesus, but looking more deeply you see many people
in it.''
The painting shows a robed and haloed Jesus. Against a pale pink background
are a yin-yang symbol, intended to represent perfect balance, and a feather,
symbolizing the American Indian spirituality that McKenzie learned about
during a stay in New Mexico.
The painting ``is a haunting image of a peasant Jesus - dark, thick-lipped,
looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence,''
wrote Sister Wendy Beckett, the 69-year-old British nun and host of a public
television series about art. She selected the winner and three runners-up.
In the view of one of the judges, Sherry Lynn Best, who directs an art
gallery at Rockhurst University: ``It's not real masculine. It's not real
feminine. It's not really androgynous, either.''
Contestants in 19 countries, ranging from children to prominent graphic
designers, submitted entries that a three-member jury winnowed to 10
finalists.
The contest was conceived by the National Catholic Reporter's editor, Michael
Farrell, who had hoped it would produce a provocative winner.
``If everybody looks at it and says, `Very nice,' that means it will have
failed,'' he said. ``Every new work of art that has been worth anything has
been controversial when it first appeared.''
McKenzie, who wins a $2,000 first prize, describes herself as a ``devout
agnostic'' with an interest in many faiths. She has devoted much of her work
to images of strong, spiritual women.
Her Jesus, she said, was intended to be a masculine presence, but she sought
to add subtly a feminine dimension by using a woman as a model.
``This painting is about love,'' she said. ``It's about reminding all of us
about the importance of celebrating our differences.''
The judges who reviewed the entries said they were struck by the variety:
abstract designs, computer graphics, Jesus as a homeless person, Jesus in
outer space cradling the Earth, a Jesus with superhero biceps.
``I think Jesus would have liked this contest,'' said one of the judges,
Pattie Wigand Sporrong of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. ``It didn't
have a lot of boundaries and barriers.''
McKenzie, 51, is a Brooklyn native who moved to Vermont in 1976. Her base is
Island Pond, a small town in the sparsely populated northeastern corner of
the state where she sometimes paints 12 hours at a stretch in the wing of a
135-year-old house.
```Jesus of the People' simply came through me,'' McKenzie said. ``I feel as
though I am only a vehicle for its existence.''
The 50,000-circulation National Catholic Reporter, based in Kansas City, Mo.,
and founded in 1964, has taken pride in its independence, its support for
ecumenical reforms and its willingness to provoke debate.
Farrell, in a column in the new issue, predicted the choice of ``Jesus of the
People'' would carry on that tradition.
``We got a strong impression that the era of the blond, blue-eyed Jesus is
over,'' he wrote. ``When the church was overwhelmingly a Western institution,
we made Jesus in our likeness. ... This work of art may be prophetic of where
and how Christianity will flourish in the next millennium or two.''
EDITOR'S NOTE: More information about the contest can be obtained from the
National Catholic Reporter's Web site, www.natcath.com.
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