"Jesus In A Cage and the Virgin Mary in Handcuffs"

[Jeffersons Ghost]

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO IN A CAGE?
The Power of Sandoval’s Send Her Back
By Clarke Condé

If you want to get your point across and stir up a controversy, placing the baby Jesus in a cage and the Virgin Mary in handcuffs is a great way to start. As part of the exhibit Cuatro Corazones One Spirit currently on display at the South Broadway Cultural Center, [in Albuquerque, NM] Jemez Springs’ own Raymond Sandoval has hit on an exquisite formula for making a statement about America’s current obsession with immigration and deportation.

Working in bas-relief, Sandoval has taken the materials, techniques and iconography of ubiquitous Madonna and child religious portraits and created Send Her Back by placing both of them in the hands of two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Sandoval clearly places Jesus and Mary among that unfortunate group of people in the wrong place and wrong time... Using “send her back,” the racist chant that’s all the rage in contemporary fascist circles, as the title further clarifies the piece’s purpose.

Any debate should rest squarely on what Send Her Back is saying about America’s approach to immigration and how those of the Christian faith should respond. It is nothing if not an important debate worth having and worth reflecting in our art. To his credit, Raymond Sandoval has put it into plain language to help spur the conversation.


This article and picture is from the Weekly Alibi - a popular, local, free entertainment and art publication

https://alibi.com/art/59362/What-Would-Jesus-Do-in-a-Cage.html

Personally, I am not sure how Albuquerque's Christian, Hispanic residents - a large group - will respond to this artwork.

[msongs]

1. depends on if they actually implement his actual in the bible directions. nt

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. You got that right!

[Moostache]

2. Define what the "Jesus" they are referring to looks like....then you KNOW the response.

Most likely reactions from Fake-Christians who can't handle the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was certainly NOT Nordic, blue-eyed or in any way Caucasian:

Option A: spend lots of money on watching him tortured and claim it is a moving experience
Option B: the Jesus Dude Abides bro!!!
Option C: ARGGGHHH!!! A Moselm!
Option D: Hah! Clearly an atheist's representation...they know nothing!
Option E: The King of Kings and properly shown!
Option F: Non-qualified because of heritage...

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. How about Jesus-Trump?

A primary indication of a dictator or tyrant, planning to rule for life, is ANY attempt at deification of himself.

I wonder why Evangelicals didn't publicly condemn Teflon Don for blasphemy, when he re
tweeted:

Trump tweets quote calling him the "second coming of God" to Jews in Israel

Less than a day after President Donald Trump outraged many members of the Jewish community for his comments about their loyalty, he tweeted out the claim that Israeli Jews view him as the "second coming of God."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tweets-quote-calling-him-the-second-coming-of-god-to-jews-in-israel/

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. Hands too big; belly too small. nt

[FiveGoodMen]

10. B looks like Dubya

[Moostache]

13. Looking a second time...you're right!

Initially I thought it looked like Jeff Bridges from "The Big Lewbowski", but a closer look is more like someone taking Bush and putting long hair and a beard on him!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

14. He acts worse...

"W" only trashed the 4th Amendment! To avoid prosecution, Teflon Don is trashing the rest of the US Constitution.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. That's gorgeous. I love it.

[Hekate]

5. The image is of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a very powerful cultural/religious icon. Response should be

...very positive among Latinos, I would think. She is their patron saint, and images of of the Virgin of Guadalupe holding the infant Jesus appear all over in US communities where Mexican immigrants have settled.

There is nothing in Roman Catholic tradition, I believe, against showing Mary sharing the travails of her people, wherever they may be. One of her traditional appellations is, after all, Mother of Sorrows.

[Hekate]

6. That really is one of the beautiful depictions of the Virgin of Guadalupe I have ever seen...

I am going to see if I can get it printed out in color.

When you say "Christians" you may be thinking of white Evangelicals, who are Protestant. They don't count in this discussion, because Protestants threw out all the images and statues of Mary back in the Reformation, hundreds of years ago. For them she only appears once a year, during Christmas.

Roman Catholics get to have Mother Mary all the time.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. if it's not labelled, they won't see Mary and Jesus

[Tanuki]

9. Last Christmas, St. Susana Catholic Church in the Boston suburb of Dedham

had a nativity scene with baby Jesus in a cage and the Wise Men separated from the holy family by a wall.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/boston.cbslocal.com/2018/12/05/dedham-nativity-scene-saint-susana-parish-immigration/amp/

..."Parishioner Phil Mandeville says Jesus was no stranger to politics. “Christ was political, he was hung on a cross for making political statements and bucking authority and that’s exactly why he died,” Mandeville said.

The nativity scene is meant to be a symbol of hope, and at St. Susanna’s the hope is that a conversation has begun."....(more)

[Kid Berwyn]

12. THAT is Art.

The message is more than political; it is righteous.