Opportunity for Artists!

A call to artists – for new art at St. Francis Xavier parish (Jesuit) in New York. Whether, however, the potential commissions will have anything to do with Christianity is another question entirely. You see the problem is that in the present church the images are overwhelmingly those of white men (as perhaps befits a church founded by the Jesuit order – at least as it understood itself previous to the Vatican Council). The exceptions (the Virgin Mary, Saint Catherine of Siena) are also white. And the whole church had been restored at great expense in the not-too-distant past. But, as the project’s “Statement of Purpose” explains:

The Church of St. Francis Xavier is committed to pursuing racial and social justice in our community. Among many other initiatives, we would like to commission new art work for the church that more reflects the diversity of our community and the values we profess.

Our ideas for the project include and are not limited to:

• Art that depicts Jesus as a Black, Indigenous, Person of Color, so as to represent groups historically excluded, marginalized or exploited in the United States including but not limited to African Americans, Native Americans and migrants from Latin America.
• Art that features individual saints of various races/culture/nationalities. For example, and not limited to: Josephine Bakhita, Charles Lwanga, Oscar Romero, Kateri Tekakwitha, Andrew Kim Taegon, Lorenzo Ruiz, and The Martyr Saints of China. Also, Blesseds Augustus Tolton, Pierre Toussaint, Sr. Thea Bowman and Julia Greeley.
• Art that depicts and honors heroes in the arena of racial and social injustice. For example, and not limited to: Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, John Lewis, Julia Greeley, Bayard Rustin and Fannie Lou Hamer. This could also include some local heroes who volunteer at the Xavier Mission Welcome Table, Shelter, etc.
• Possible themes depicting social/racial justice might be the parallel of Jesus on the cross with lynched African Americans hung from a tree or images of African American mothers grieving their children near the Pieta statue.

In other words, the proposed new art is political, not religious. Or put another way, the content is entirely political but may employ religious forms. As the parish’s instructions for interested artists explicitly state:

PLEASE SPECIFY HOW THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES OUR MISSION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE ICONOGRAPHY WITHIN ST. FRANCIS XAVIER

There follow, however, contradictory suggestions regarding “figurative art”:

The current artwork in the Church is almost exclusively figurative. It is important that the artist applicants consider whether additional figurative artwork best accomplishes the stated goals of this commission, or whether a non-figurative approach would better reflect our goals in a powerful and impactful way. Said another way, the presentation of historically accurate representations and abstract, non-objective, and conceptual artwork are encouraged.

The Conciliar/Jesuit goal of aligning with the 20th Century reign of the abstract, non-objective, and conceptual obviously clashes with the political objectives previously outlined. A perennial problem for the left that the political art of the Soviet Union and the world communist movement had to deal with as early as the 1920’s.

Submissions are due by March 1. All the details can be found on the St. Francis Xavier parish website:

SOLICITATION OF INTEREST IN
THE INSTALLATION OF NEW ART IN OUR CHURCH