The Holy Beauty Project (THBP) is a series of artworks incorporating different media such as painting, drawing, video and performance. It examines the seductive power of images and the representation of women as a means to communicate and consolidate social norms as well as ideals of beauty and morality.
The multi-media project juxtaposes catholic iconography and contemporary imagery, setting a parallel between ancient and current icons (celebrities, fashion models, pop and rock stars, etc). It also questions boundaries between masculine and feminine, Latin-American and European, ancient and contemporary.
Religious icons are not so different from the overly retouched images in contemporary advertising. Both kinds of representations have been created ―following the aesthetic codes of their own time― to seduce us from their pedestal of apparent beauty, happiness and general perfection. All these icons are meant to incite devotion, trying to convince us that we should aspire to be more like them, because they are better than us. Consequently, they have a major influence in our behavior and the way we conceive our bodies.
Yet values have changed throughout the times. Today we’re constantly bombarded by countless images inviting us to seduce and be seduced and it’s not longer our obligation to be chaste and obedient as the saints and virgins were. Now we must seek to fulfill the ideal of our time: to be successful, wealthy and attractive.
The Holy Beauty Project is a satire of seduction and the arbitrariness of social values and established role behaviors, particularly among women. It aims to bring forth our constantly renewed need for gods/idols, our need of making sense out of life’s absurdity.
The project started in 2010 and is still in progress. It will count with the collaboration of several artists, musicians and designers, among which we can already find Jonna Bergelin, Clara Garrido, Nicolás Díaz Durana, Leonardo de Neymet, Luis Otero Prada and Rafael Martínez.
