Discount Saints, 2015-18

"Discount Saints is a photo and video series to be exhibited in 2015. The work consists of portraits of Catholic Saints depicted as urban, contemporary caricatures. Inspiration for the series came from growing up around tacky, religious figurines seen in discount stores, Botanicas, and in many Catholic Hispanic homes. A love for Renaissance art is a contributing force for the aesthetic of DS. The Saints are the "99 Cents store" versions of iconic biblical figures: aggressive, gaudy, from the South Bronx, but still retaining their saintly attributes and characteristics. 
Along with the images is a music video/short film chronicling around Ghetto Mary, portrayed by the artist herself. The video shows the Saints interact in a constructed universe, essentially showing through Ghetto Mary’s perspective the death of Jesus. Along with images and film, the exhibition will have an interactive sculpture; an altarpiece built entirely of prayer candles. DS is a solo exhibition where the space will be transformed into an urban chapel of sorts; a public event uniting artists, Bronx residents and beyond to view the installation and screen the film." 

"Inspired by gold jewelry, hair rollers and religious iconography, I created the art project Discount Saints. The series was first exhibited at Medianoche New Media Gallery & Digital Film Studio in Harlem from November 20th 2015 to January 30th, 2016. The collection of saintly portraits and short video portraits encompasses my appreciation for classical biblical paintings and identification with contemporary black and Latino culture in New York. 
            In 2014 the first seed was planted when I set-up a studio portrait dressed as La Virgen Maria, in this case, what became to be “Ghetto Mary”; a classicly lit composition of the virgin modernized into a timeless Hispanic mother figure from New York City, namely, The Bronx. I use St. Mary to spearhead the series and create a modernized biblical narrative with a female protagonist who is strong and confident but still a product of her environment. She mourns for her son Papi Jesús, who is also photographed in a video recreation of Pieta and in another endless loop applies layers of red lipstick in her bedroom. From there I spent the year and a half producing shoots to create Papi Jesús, Mary Magdalene, St. Elizabeth, St. Peter & Pontius Pilate. Eight video projections of famous biblical scenes like the Last Supper and a live recreation of the Pietá scene are included with domestic scenes of Ghetto Mary applying makeup and gazing out her apartment window. The final piece in the project is the Doorknocker Altar Cross, a 4 foot sculpture entirely composed of bamboo earrings and hair roller pins. 
            What I aim to do with Discount Saints is develop my interpretation of what these Catholic saints would look like in a world set in today’s South Bronx. They are the “discount store” versions of the saints, as implied from the title, a meshing of high Renaissance art and garish street styles. "

-Melanie Gonzalez