Painting Of Black Jesus Wins Catholic Magazine's Millennium Art Contest

Jet, Jan 10, 2000

A Painting of a Black Jesus by an artist who used a woman as a model has been selected by a Catholic magazine as the winner of its contest to update the image of Christ for the new millennium.

The painting, "Jesus of the People," was selected from nearly 1,700 entries for the cover of a special millennium issue to be published by the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newsweekly and one of the best-known Catholic publications in the country.

"My goal was to be as inclusive as possible," said the artist, Janet McKenzie, from her studio in Island Pond, VT. "At first glance, he is a Black or African-American Jesus, but looking more deeply you see many people in it."

She told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show that her painting of a Black Jesus was inspired for personal reasons as well.

"My nephew is African-American, Elliott, and he inspired me to include more imagery in my work," McKenzie told Lauer.

The painting shows a robed and haloed Jesus. Against a pale pink background are a yin-yang symbol, intended to represent perfect balance, and a feather, symbolizing the American Indian spirituality that McKenzie learned about during a stay in New Mexico.

The painting "is a haunting image of a pleasant Jesus--dark, thick-lipped, looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence," wrote Sister Wendy Beckett, the 69-year-old British nun and host of a public television series about art. She selected the winner and three runners-up.

Contestants in 19 countries, ranging from children to prominent graphic designers, submitted entries that a three-member jury winnowed to 10 finalists.

The contest was conceived by the National Catholic Reporter's editor, Michael Farrell, who had hoped it would produce a provocative winner.

"If everybody looks at it and says, `Very nice,' that means it will have failed," he said. "Every new work of art that has been worth anything has been controversial when it first appeared."