A poster in the southern Spanish city of Seville showing a young, handsome Jesus dressed only in a loincloth has sparked a storm on social media. Some people label it as an affront to the figure of Christ and others have posted lewd comments and memes mocking the image.
The poster by the internationally renowned Sevillian artist Salustiano García Cruz shows Jesus with a fresh face, without a crown of thorns, without a suffering face and with tiny wounds on his hands and ribcage. He was in charge of promoting the Holy Week celebrations ahead of Holy Week in Seville. The artist described the poster’s criticism as outdated. The mayor of Seville says that he likes the poster.
As soon as it was unveiled last week, criticism went viral on social media and a debate broke out over how a resurrected Christ should be depicted. Many called it embarrassing, inappropriate, too pretty, modernist and out of line with the Sevillian Holy Week tradition.
Spain is predominantly Catholic and church traditions such as marriage, baptisms and religious pageants are immensely popular among believers and non-believers alike. About 14,000 people across the country signed a Change.org campaign to remove the Jesus sign.
Critics of the poster considered the depiction of Christ “too modern.” AP
The artist García defended the work and called criticism of the poster outdated.
“There is nothing revolutionary in the painting,” García told the Atlas news agency. “There is contemporaneity, but all the elements that I have used are elements that have been used in the last seven centuries in sacred art.
“I don’t see at what point, at what element, people who don’t like it don’t like it,” he said.
In another interview published by the newspaper El Mundo, García responded to criticism from conservative groups that the description of Jesus was “effeminate” or “homoerotic.”
“A gay Christ because he looks sweet and is handsome, come on! “We are in the 21st century,” García said.
The artist said he used his son, Horacio, as a model for the poster.
“It took us a little more by surprise because everything was done with respect,” Horacio García told Atlas.
“A lot of controversy arises from the fact that the model is too good, the Christ too handsome, too attractive,” he said. But it hasn’t been all bad: Horacio García said that he has also received a lot of praise and good wishes from people.
The General Council of Brotherhoods has so far ignored requests to replace the sign before Holy Week at the end of March. In recent years, some posters for different Catholic celebrations were removed after criticism.
The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, described the controversy as “artificial.”
“I like the poster,” he said, adding that not all Easter posters can be the same every year. “Some posters are more risky, others more classic, others more daring.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn