Artist’s Statement

In my Casa Lü exhibit, Saints and Sorrows, I examined the harm done to women by the Catholic Church. Collages portraying significant events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as collages of two Virgin Martyrs, so lauded by Catholicism as examples of purity to Catholic women and girls, comment on the current fate of contemporary American women held hostage by a virulent and retrograde patriarchy. Lastly, Mary Magdalene, the target of a smear campaign by Pope Gregory in 591 that endured into the 1960s, was rightfully venerated and liberated from her role as a propaganda tool against sexuality.

With each image accompanied by a poetic text. I invited the viewer to reconsider the traditional Catholic and societal mythology.