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Lifting every brush Last year, the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) invited art submissions
from people depicting how they believed Jesus should look like
in the 21st century. Some, but not all of the works, were extensions of the artists
who sent them in for consideration. Janet McKenzie’s “Jesus of the People” isn’t Christ in her own
image. Far from it. According to the straw-haired artist with pinkish skin, her intention
isn’t to be controversial or make a political statement. It’s
just when she sat down, closed her eyes, and imagined Jesus’ spirit,
one person’s face came to mind: Maria. McKenzie first met Maria, a young African-American woman, a few
years ago at an auction in Vermont. Though Maria had never modeled.
McKenzie, struck by her “stunning features,” was determined to
change that. Catholics in Chicago may be familiar with Maria’s face. It looks
out from the canvas of “Madonna and Child—Boundless Love,” on
display at the archdiocesan pastoral center. On one hot, humid July day, McKenzie is seated close to her portrait,
named best among 1,700 entries received by NCR. It was part of
the Jesus 2000 traveling art exhibit displayed during the summer
at Catholic Theological Union. During the exhibition, McKenzie was commissioned to create a work
for a new chapel at St. Xavier University on the South Side. McKenzie said she expected neither the “phenomenal reaction” and
support she has received from the Chicago area nor the clear plastic
that covered the portrait for “safety reasons.” Such thoughts are miles away from her first work, a painting borne
of a priest’s suggestion to create a piece to complement the lime
green stained-glass chapel windows of St. James the Greater Parish
in Island Pond, Vt. McKenzie, raised an Episcopalian, said she was reluctant at first
to paint religious subjects. “I didn’t feel that I had the right to because I wasn’t Catholic.
But he took me by the hand and told me, ‘You’re supposed to do
this.’ Since that moment, things have been great,” said McKenzie.
Those comments are from an artist whose skin has grown thicker
since “Jesus of the People” has graced newspaper front pages and
the cover of Jet magazine, an African-American publication. “There hasn’t been one aspect of this painting that hasn’t been
ripped up and thrown back. Every aspect [has], including race,
the clothes and all the colors used,” she said. McKenzie clarified the misperception that the painting is of Maria.
She did not make Jesus a black woman. The painting, she said,
is simply inspired by her favorite model. “The most universal remark I received was that Jesus didn’t look
like that. Jesus was Jewish. That was the thread that bound those
comments together,” said McKenzie. “And then there were people who commented that Jesus was from
Northern Africa. Yes. Certainly. And [Scripture-based references]
‘his hair was like wool’ and ‘his feet were burnished brass.’
But everybody said something.” And what reaction has McKenzie received from black Catholics? “I’ve had [black] people come up to me and say ‘I am Catholic.
And I am so glad to find myself celebrated.’ And I’ve also had
people tell me, ‘That’s not possible. And I’m black.’ And ‘you
should change this.’ It surprised me, I don’t why it did, but
it did,” she said. If she didn’t intend to stir up controversy, why did McKenzie
depict Jesus in that hue? “As the image evolved and I saw where it was going, I took a tremendous
amount of joy in knowing Elliot—McKenzie’s teen-aged nephew, who
is black—would be thrilled with this; that he would see himself
celebrated in the best way.” McKenzie said the exhibition she is most proud of is “Jesus of
the People” and “Madonna and Child” staged in her nephew’s locker
at school. The artist’s current pieces illustrate her interest in pulling
the viewer “to look inside” by painting faces with closed eyes.
“The eyes are the windows to the soul, you know,” she said with
a sly smile. McKenzie’s work has, and continues, to open the eyes of Catholics
of all colors.
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