The genius of Elizabeth Ohlson-Wallin - Krucifix

Elizabeth Ohlson-Wallin: Krucifix

The thing which interests me about this crucifix is firstly the sheer artistry of the photograph. Overtones of sexuality permeate the scene. It is, however, sensual, without being in any way offensive. The elements which make it up are entirely natural. There is something essentially voyeuristic about it - not unlike the unveiling and display of the consecrated Host at Benediction. At the same time, the perfect, yet deathly outline of the Cross is apparent, but a cross which one has succumbed to - which has extracted the last from the tormented body. I find it an extraordinary piece of work.

Two pictures - two world views

Consider these two pictures. The one, the well known Pieta by Michaelangelo. The other, "Pieta" from Ecce Homo, by Elizabeth Ohlson Wallin (1998). The story of the photo piece is recorded in Kitt Cherry's Art that Dares, (Androgyne press, Berkeley CA, 2007, p.76):

The artist chose a number of "Jesus" figures and each "Jesus" was allowed to pick the scene in Jesus' life he wanted to play for himself. A gay man, who was dying of AIDS, chose the Pieta. He also picked who would play his grieving mother, and he chose a female fellow employee at the leather bar, who was well known for "mothering" gay men. The man playing "Jesus" said he hoped that people would remember him in the picture after he was dead, and the shoot was done at the door of the AIDS ward in a Stockholm hospital.

The extraordinary thing is, that the man who played "Jesus" in this picture experienced his own personal resurrection, because soon after taking the picture, he started taking anti-retrovirals. "Jesus is still alive!" said Ohlson Wallin, a decade later. And today, the AIDS ward no longer exists. Furthermore, in terms of the human species, AIDS is no longer a disease associated -almost exclusively as it was then - with gay men.