Photo by ALVARO LEFLET/AFP, via Getty Images
Conservative Roman Catholics in Seville, Spain, deemed offensive a poster of Jesus Christ created to promote Easter Week.
The poster depicts a half-naked Christ with a beard and long hair, his lower body covered by a white cloth, in front of a dark red background. It was designed by Seville-based artist Salustiano Garcia.
Holy Week, which includes Good Friday and Easter Sunday, celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus. Seville is known for its large festivals held on this occasion.
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The Council of Brotherhoods and Guilds, which oversees Easter Week events in the Spanish city, claims the poster shows “the glorious side of Holy Week” in “the purest style of this celebrated painter”. There is. Yahoo report.
Juan Espadas, leader of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party and former mayor of Seville, fought for the painting, arguing that it combines “tradition and modernity.”
The Archbishop of Seville similarly defended the work as an act of artistic freedom.
However, many criticized the poster’s sexuality.
“This is an absolutely shameful and outrageous act,” the conservative Catholic group IPSE wrote, adding that the depiction was “effeminate” and “barbaric” and demanding a public apology from the artist.
Javier Navarro, leader of the far-right party Vox, added that the poster “sought to provoke” with little effort to encourage participation in Holy Week.
The artist spoke about the shift to the right. ABC But the inspiration came from his son, according to the newspaper.
“You must be mad to see sexuality in my statue of Christ,” Garcia said, adding that there was something in her painting “that hasn’t been expressed in works of art from hundreds of years ago.” He claimed there was no such thing.
Although the poster’s fate remains uncertain, a petition on change.org calling for Seville City Hall to abolish it has garnered more than 12,000 signatures in three days.