In August, I visited the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia to see a powerful exhibit that brings forth a discussion between Barnes and Alain Locke regarding the colonizing and buying of African art and the impact that has on BIPOC people. After seeing the exhibit, I walked around the Barnes collection with a new and different perspective on what I was seeing.
Barnes took great care in how he displayed art. He wanted to put different artists in conversation with one another. He wanted to place art by people of color in conversation with well known white artists. This time, I paid attention to this conversation.
In doing so, I found myself captivated by one particular style of icons that were spread through three rooms. They reflected Mexican and New Mexican themes and yet were clearly not the traditional Mexican style of bright vivid colors. I stood before them, drawn into their style, into their figures, into their Sacred images. My brain wanted to know which Saints were depicted. My heart wanted to know where they were from. My spirit wanted to take them in and let their energies resonate in my soul.
I looked it up through the Barnes Foundation’s App. They were all from various New Mexico artists created between 1750 and 1850. These artists were called santeros. What I learned about the santeros when I went looking on google was fascinating:
“Santero art dates back four centuries, beginning with the first Spanish settlement in New Mexico in 1598. After pushing north from Mexico, Juan de Onate and a group of Spaniards reached the Rio Grande River and established San Juan de los Caballeros. Eight Franciscans traveled with the expedition as missionaries to the indigenous peoples of the area. They also brought with them their aesthestic sensibilities, which they shared with those they met. The Renaissance and Baroque art styles they were familiar with in peninsular Spain and Mexico were then transformed on the frontier to a simpler, more direct art form. In many ways, santero art is a throwback to medieval art or iconography, in which themes and figures are symbolic and repeat themselves. Each artist, however, leaves his huella, or mark. While the first santeros were actually the missionaries and a few artisans that arrived with them, the native peoples soon took up the form as well.” (The Folksy Majesty of Santero Art (crisismagazine.com))
Months after seeing these pieces, they continue to speak to me. They are powerful Sacred images. They invite me deeply into the practice of Praying with Sacred Images. This contemplative prayer is an ancient practice that was focused on Iconography. Over the years, the contemporary practice has widened its tent to include all art.
In this practice, we recognize that the image of the art is the Word. That the image speaks “its story in silence. It calls up deep feeling in us that may have been denied or avoided or overlooked for some time. As those feelings begin to surface, we are able to encounter and interact with them free of judgment or defense because they are invitatory not accusatory. Hidden in the images is the truth of the artist, the trust of us, the truth of human life, the truth of God.” (Strength for the Journey by Renee Miller, pg 69-70)
The experience is not about going to an art museum. It is not about creating beautiful art. It is about letting the creative experience of art bring us into the Presence of God. It is about the image taking us deeper and deeper into Union with the One.
That can happen as you visit an art museum. It can happen as you create art. It is about the Intention you hold as you engage art.
Praying with images is powerful. Art holds such deep transformative power and the Sacred invites us through the art deeper into that transformative process.
How do you pray with an image?
Settle before an image that is drawing you in.
Take it in for a few minutes. Notice what is happening in the art. Notice what happens in you as you take in this art.
If you are at an exhibit, you can bring your mind into this prayer with your heart. Read about the artist and the exhibit and enter into heart-oriented conversation with the artist’s intention. What comes forth? How does the artist's intention and art impact your mind and spirit?
Prayerfully ask the Sacred to bring forth Her perspective, His thoughts, Their experience so you can experience it with Them. What does the Holy want you to pay attention to? How is Spirit speaking through this image?
Sit with these questions. Contemplate them. Allow yourself to be in conversation with the art, the Sacred, the artist and your heart.
Be with the art. It will move you. Follow that movement, that energy, inviting it to bring forth meaning, healing, transformation, discernment, guidance, peace, etc.
When you are done, thank the Sacred, thank the artist, thank the image and come back to ordinary reality before you go about you day.
I am still, months after, allowing the impact of the santeros Sacred Icons to settle in my body mind spirit and soul. I’m still feeling their presence and opening myself to their guidance and healing in my body and life. Those Sacred images continue to draw me back to them. They have more to offer me. I return to them often via pictures, online and on my phone. When I have spent time with them, my heart is filled with a deeper sense of peace, a letting go, a calm Presence. For that I am forever changed and grateful.
How does praying with images impact you?
