Golgotha

Golgotha is one painting in a series entitled "72 Virgins to Die For.” The title, Golgotha, refers to the site at which Christ is said to have been crucified. In many of the paintings, I was working with images of animals as fetishes sacrificed for ritual consumption. The central Christ figure has the head of a balut (duck fetus) while onlookers are veiled with napkins, as those who enjoy the French delicacy Ortolan do while eating the bird. As legend has it, the tradition of eating Ortolan originates from a Catholic Cardinal, who wished to hide his shame and gluttony from God while he ate the bird, which is gorged and drowned in brandy before it is cooked. The crowd throws tomatoes, an intentional misdirection from the connection to flesh that the viewer will make. It is common to think of wine and bread as the flesh and blood of Christ when taking Communion. The painting is most concerned with the dichotomy between shame and the urge to consume.