Abstract
The maternal body is almost universally underexplored in Christian thought and art; although the Virgin Mary both illuminates and casts a long shadow over our imagining of motherhood and the divine, the lives, bodies and experiences of more ordinary people are far less obvious. This book seeks to begin this exploration, drawing upon the author’s body of work as an artist herself, as well as engaging with other artists’ work, and the work of theologians and philosophers, most notably Luce Irigaray. It evidences the power of art in exploring what it means to be a mother, with chapters exploring the icon of the maternal form, the practice of lament, architecture and the incarnation, and the lullaby. It invites us to envisage God afresh within our own situations, seeing pregnant and maternal forms as loci for religious experiences, and to ask how this might transgress current religious boundaries and expectations.
Intentionally layered and poetic, this work does not seek to present an ordered, systematic account of ‘either art history or philosophy or theology’ but ‘to offer a wide ranging philosophical and theological account of the maternal body and the divine’. I found it particularly strong when engaging with works of art, either her own or the work of other artists, and strongest when describing the process of creating art inspired by and from her own body and journey. She writes clearly and beautifully about the practice of creating art, and the section on icons and performance, a reflection on space, breath, and transcendence was particularly strong.
A section in the same chapter, reflecting upon the use of gold in iconography, and exploring Marina Abramovic’s work Golden Mask, was similarly engaging and provoked in me a powerful reflection on pregnancy – ‘the materials of the icon made space for everything and nothing: everything that the devotee brought to it and nothing but the presence of God’. This is a book which invites you to look beyond, to explore the art works in more detail (and as such requires some more engagement with online sources).
I also particularly enjoyed the chapter inspired by Peter Berger’s work on the ‘sacred canopy’, exploring the architecture of cathedrals, particularly the gothic revival style of St Paul’s Melbourne, and the incarnation – with both Christ and the maternal body seen as expressing something of Berger’s sacred canopy. The ‘tent-like’ dwelling among us of the incarnation is echoed in the space of the maternal body and Pryor’s installations within the imposing space of the cathedral help to explore this, playing with senses of shape and space and engaging with the cathedral’s colonial history – ‘it was into this architecturally signified grandeur that I wished to speak, not of a God far removed but precisely of a divine so close and incarnate as to be sensed in our most ordinary being and loving together’. This chapter offers a helpful theological reflection on how we might creatively and faithfully use religious spaces and feels relevant to the often fraught discourse around installations within cathedral spaces in the United Kingdom.
As a slight critique, I found that the author’s use of Irigaray required some background knowledge, and perhaps a short more introductory section exploring some of Irigaray’s theory of sexuate difference might have been helpful here. However, Irigaray’s thinking does make an interesting conversation partner, but one which could possibly have done with a little more spelling-out. At times, I found myself wondering what the direct link between the exploration of the art and embodiment and the more theory-heavy sections might be, and they sometimes felt like a shift in tone and writing style. I found areas which more discretely engaged with a particular author, such as the work of Julian of Norwich to be perhaps more straightforward and impactful.
Overall, this book is a beginning; it feels like something to be engaged with, to dwell with and alongside, something which would make most sense when used practically, as a way to begin to explore our own maternal reflections, bodies and lives. It invites us to begin to engage creatively with the divine, to ‘the rhythms and entanglements of the everyday’. I found it to be a book which caused me to reflect, and also inspired me to engage and wonder. It is a work which feels playful and not antagonistic and is a much welcomed addition to what is hopefully a growing field exploring the intersections of motherhood and the maternal body, and the divine.