The Virgin 2017

Harmonia Rosales made The Virgin sometime after she was born in 1984. There's a powerful image, where the artist has taken what looks like a traditional Madonna and child, and recast it with Black figures. Look at that gold leaf background, with the blue patterned halos. I'm thinking about the history of religious painting, and how those forms get repeated, almost like a remix. I wonder what Harmonia was thinking about while she was making it. It's like she's asking, "How can we see these old stories in new ways? What does it mean to represent ourselves?" The red cloth drapes, in thin delicate layers. All these details, all these choices, are part of a bigger conversation about art, representation, and who gets to be seen. Artists are always talking to each other across time, remixing ideas, and pushing things forward. That's what makes art so alive.