Mary as Prophet, commissioned by Virginia Theological Seminary, is sited on a small terrace just outside the walls of the seminary's 1881 chapel (preserved as a sanctified space after a 2010 fire) and within view of the 2015 chapel.
The sculpture depicts the Visitation (Luke 1:39-56), when Mary goes to visit her older cousin, Elizabeth, and sings the Magnificat (prophetic words that echo Hannah's song in 1Samuel 2:1-10): "He has scattered the proud...cast down the mighty...lifted up the lowly..." Mary and Elizabeth are seen as African women, Mary very young, Elizabeth very old. Mary is tense with prophecy, her focus turned inward. Elizabeth moves toward Mary, bending and reaching forward to support her.
The bronze figures are 48" high. The base sets their heads at eye level, giving the impression that the figures are full-sized. In the primary view we "read" the sculpture from left to right (the direction most of us read), our attention moving from Elizabeth to rest on Mary, the Prophet. To encourage viewers to walk around to the secondary view (where our gaze moves from Mary to linger on Elizabeth's comforting presence) we angled the figures on the base and sited it well away from the wall. A bench invites visitors to spend time in reflection, in this way linking the sculpture terrace to the contemplative quiet of the 1881 chapel.
The figures are a significant presence on this campus, an axis linking old and new: old chapel and new; old age and youth; Christian Old Testament and New. Their prominent location underscores one of the Dean's goals for the commission: to honor the significance of women's ministries in the church.
Depicted as African women, Mary and Elizabeth embody the Seminary's ties with churches in Africa and reflect the composition of the Anglican Communion. And this depiction of Mary and Elizabeth as ordinary (rather than idealized) women, reminds viewers of the church's call to "lift up the lowly." The Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrating the sculpture, remarked that he sees these same women in refugee camps and other areas of conflict and deprivation.
This interpretation of the Visitation - Mary as Prophet - is without precedent in the visual arts; previous depictions show the scene as a tender, intimate exchange between two women. This new reading reflects the prophetic strain still vital in African-American preaching. And it echoes the prophetic mission of both church and seminary: to "fill the hungry with good things."
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