Van baardmans naar vrouw met baard: Jezus queeren in kunst en populaire cultuur

Abstract

Abstract The predominantly masculine imagery and theological conception of God and Jesus have often been criticised by feminist theologians and artists, for instance by investing in ‘Christalogy’ as an alternative systematic theological reading of Christ and by sculpting and painting ‘Christas’ or female cross figures. In this essay, I argue that such a feminised depiction of Christ does not solve the problem of the gender dichotomy. I discuss two examples of art/popular culture that represent a gender ambiguous Christ figure. Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin’s photograph The Last Supper (1998) first of all depicts Jesus among leather people and transvestites, sipping on champagne and eating crisps. The second example shows Conchita Wurst, the so-called ‘lady with the beard’, who won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, and who can be read as a contemporary Christ figure. Both examples demonstrate that the gender identity of Jesus can be destabilised, adding to the archive of a ‘queer Jesus’ who defies norms of gender and sexuality.