Virgin Mary
Smith's sculpture, Virgin Mary, explores the elemental functions of the female body from a Feminist perspective while incorporating the iconography of her Catholic faith. The sculpture appropriates the image of the revered matriarch of Catholicism, but removes the luster of centuries of veneration to reveal those vital differences that elevate her above all women.
The wax figure is nearly life-size, depicting a nude body without skin, revealing the musculoskeletal system, while the head, hands, breasts, genitalia, and feet retain their pale flesh. The sculpture's open-arm posture is reminiscent of Eurocentric 'Virgin Mary' images and early Christianity's Orans figures. However, Smith withholds Mary's traditional attributes, including the halo, blue robe, bejeweled crown, lilies, roses, and nursing infant, which generated an otherworldly aura meant to elevate her above all women.
Smith's sculpture invites viewers to acknowledge the woman beneath the veneer of holy mysticism, revealing Mary as simply flesh and blood. By retaining the portions of her body for which she was adored, such as her breasts, uterus, and hands, Smith's sculpture exposes the affinity Mary shares with all women, including the blood and bodily functions, muscle, sinew, and bone. The viewer is left with a conundrum, forced to decide whether the venerated figure was simply human or if a woman's body is truly sacred.
