Photographer and mixed media artist Renne Cox is infamous for her photographic panel titled "Yo Mama's Last Supper" depicting herself (a naked black woman) as Christ in a recreation of the iconic Last Supper scene, exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2001.
At the time, NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani called the panel "disgusting, outrageous and anti-Catholic." Ironically, the same photographic panel was shown at a church in Venice in 1999 with no backlash... what's up Rudy? Is the powerful image of a black, female, god-like figure that intimidating to you?
Cox defended the work by stating that "...Christianity is big in the African-American community, but there are no presentations of us," she said. "I took it upon myself to include people of color in these classic scenarios."
Renee Cox is a badass who takes visual risks, takes the heat for it and counters HIStory's tendency to represent only one side.
Renee Cox challenges and urges society to WAKE UP!
Renee Cox's work needs a more public, less elitist type of venue than museums/galleries so that the world can see and hear her message.
An Art:Jamaica blog post from last year mentions new work from Renee Cox, "inspired by [TV show] 'Desperate Housewives' and the St. Andrew upperclass housewife set. The driving influence being the need to create images where black women are given the space to 'luxuriate in depression'."
Perhaps her next work could be projected onto the Hollywood sign in LA...
SPEAK OUT: Do you consider the imagery in Renee Cox's "Yo Mama's Last Supper" to be blasphemy or disrespectful of the Christian religion?
PHOTO: Renee Cox and her photographic panel, "Yo Mama's Last Supper".Labels: african american, women photographers
