Order includes:

• high-res image file formatted for print

• high-res image file formatted for web/projection

• A PDF of the Artist's statements & scripture reference for the visual

• A visio divina Bible Study Guide for you to use this image in a group study session that incorporates the ancient Benedictine spiritual practice of "divine seeing."

Credit Info:

When printing and sharing online, please always include the following credits:
Artist's name | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

From the artist:

As I read Mary’s song this year, I felt a sting of grief, one that I hadn’t felt in response to this text before. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, artist Titus Kaphar created an image for Time magazine devoted to Black mothers. In his image, “Analogous Colors,” he depicts a Black mother fiercely and lovingly holding her child. However, her child is cut out of the image, leaving a harsh, blank hole with shadows where the child should be. Reflecting on his piece, Kaphar wrote: “In her expression, I see the Black mothers who are unseen, and rendered helpless in this fury against their babies. As I listlessly wade through another cycle of violence against Black people, I paint a Black mother… eyes closed, furrowed brow, holding the contour of her loss.”

When I read the Magnificat, Kaphar’s image came into sharp relief. How could I image Mary holding the contours of her dreams for the world, while also holding the contour of her loss? Mary’s son would be publicly murdered at the hands of the State. Mary’s song reverberates for all mothers who have had dreams for their children shattered by senseless violence. 

I have this instinct to read the Magnificat alongside the first Creation narrative in Genesis. I imagine Christ taking form in Mary’s womb much like I imagine all of Creation emerging at the Creator’s voice. I collaged macro photography of patterns, textures, and colors from Creation—such as sunsets, bird’s feathers, fish scales, galaxies, leaves, planets, fur, water, etc.—and wove them into her hair. Jesus, the thread of Creation, is being knit together in her womb. God’s dream for all Creation is materializing as cells divide in her body; all the while she sings of a dream, still unrealized.

— Lauren Wright Pittman