Raining Down From On High

With the fateful medical unfastening almost ancient history and the Congressional fireworks also fading fast, can anyone imagine a calm end to the Terri Schiavo story?     

After studying images of mouth-sealed protesters; potential trespassers; Terri with Michael, and Terri with Mom, maybe I'm ready for my own calm exit from this story.  But maybe that's because I want to get away before more radical agents take hold of the situation, bringing nothing but hell, fire and lightening bolts.  I'm referring to those people who force lawmakers into lawless acts, nudge up the blindfolds on lady justice and sacrifice their own children to arrest.  (By the way, does it seem like the eyes in this painting are staring straight at you, or just to the side?)

So, what does the latest picture say?

I would start with the upper right corner of the picture frame, suggesting that religious extremists -- now having gotten their way with Congress -- could grow that much more aggressive in pressing other points on Capitol Hill.  I could imagine the eyes in the painting as the gaze of petitioners looking to intimidate even the Supreme Court.  I have two associations if the court fails to see the light.  The hooded girl averting her eyes, so bodiless and indistinct from the mist, might imply the move to elevate a pure white Terri into martyrdom.  Meanwhile, the painting -- seeming to float in front of her -- might warn of the invocation of dark Father-figures commanding the casting of stones.

If this sounds a little too associative, I can only imagine how far those well versed in religious iconography could go with it.  Still, it doesn't take much to appreciate the current traffic in symbolism.  I could have shown you one of literally dozens of news photos circulating now of robed men in Florida toting enormous crucifixes.  (The version the NYT featured online yesterday was set against a blood-red sky.)  In this case, however, some of the symbolism actually approached me.  For example, the first person I showed this photo to said, without blinking an eye: "Oh, it's the Pieta."

So, I don't know.  Is the woman in the photo just Mary Syversen from Front Royal, Virginia, keeping a private vigil outside the Supreme Court, or is it a political actress mindful of the visual weight of Michelangelo's youthful Mary in mourning?  Or is it just Mary Syversen carrying a unique protest prop and captured in the rain by a quick and literate photographer?  (And, does it really matter which?) 

At this point, I'm exhausted by this tragedy, but still compelled by it.  Like those of you who have posted such moving comments, I take no joy in it.  I feel horrible for everyone involved.  More than anything, I do wish for a peaceful end.  I'm just not sure whether I should know better.

(image1: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta in YahooNews; image 2: www.thais.it)

Comments

[Agitprop]

You have excellently described the power of images to affect public opinion. The Religious Right has mastered this with their iconography, and their actions are well planned. It's interesting how the media has sided with the parents and portrayed the husband as a ghoulish figure who wants to kill his wife. I'm just outraged that Congress has exceeded its authority and this country has become a one-party dictatorship. Chris Shays, a moderate Republican, is quoted as saying that the Republican Party is turning the U.S. into a theocracy. He's right.

Dig your blog by the way. I'll be adding you to my links.

[in the wilderness]

If you tear away the political context, I think this picture says alot. A fundamentalist might say "what would Jesus do?" and that is easy. He would perform a miracle and restore her.Identifing with Jesus, you want to perform that miracle. If you are a more liberal christian, one might say "what did Jesus say?" and that takes you to an acceptance of your human condition. We are not God and science isn't either, nor the supreme court. If you are not a Christian at all, it is probably baffling.

[Quentin]

Át this moment I don't want to look at pictures, I don't want to analyse pictures. Why doesn't everyone back off now, fuck off now, let Terri Schiavo now die in piece. Tear down her pictures taken so many years ago. This is her moment and she is goving to experience death in her way, no matter what happens, just as we are all going to experience it: have some respect and sense of reality.

May the whole of the U.S. of America go into mourning for the disgust it has created and projected around the world, the politicians gag themselves, especially the Democrats. who should have known better, the ministers and priests finally shut up and tell us what they are really thinking and feeling instead of what they're trying to get for themselves, like the politicians, may the parents who exposed their children to fear, violence and arrest retreat in shame, the pious passion play extras accept they've failed their screen tests.

For the sake of something as simple as old-fashioned decency, a very commonplace notion dating back to before the days of Oprah Winfrey and her hysterical, money-grabbing cabal, came to dominate all news coverage and everyhting else in the media, may the screaming moralists and their political handlers freeze in their tracks. How can I express my disgust at this spectacle? I can't.

[Parallel Universe]

The picture the woman is holding looks like a part of the (in)famous Shroud of Turin, a piece of linen which some believe is Christ's burial shroud. (You can see an image of it here.) Its authenticity is - shall we say - in dispute.

I think this makes the photo an eloquent comment on the whole sad affair. We see what we want to see. Believers see the face of Christ in the Shroud of Turin. Fundamentalists see life in Mrs. Schiavo (just as they do in embryos and non-viable fetuses). Republican Congressmen see a juicy political opportunity. If the polls are accurate, the majority of Americans see a private family tragedy in which others have no right to interfere.

Which view should prevail? How can we tell? And who decides? (I submit these as real questions, not rhetorical ones.)

[Monk of Cool]

"The picture the woman is holding looks like a part of the (in)famous Shroud of Turin, a piece of linen which some believe is Christ's burial shroud."

You're right. By stating her need for a iconography of her god, she directly violates a central christian commandment - don't picture your god. She does that because she feels the urge to express the strength of her religious feelings. She wants the whole world to see what she sees - as if that would be possible.

The funny thing about this picture is that it says "if you become a fanatic christian, you violate the laws of christ".

[Parallel Universe]

She does that because she feels the urge to express the strength of her religious feelings. She wants the whole world to see what she sees

Yes - perhaps this image shows that her faith is so shaky that she needs a physical, pictorial representation of it to shore it up.

Your point about Christian iconography is really interesting - it made me think about how images of God are absolutely forbidden in both Judaism and Islam. Does it say something about Christianity that it is the only one of the monotheistic religions that doesn't follow this stricture? If so, does that by extension say something about our society, which has developed out of Christian traditions?

[aethorian]

One image a 21st century photograph, the other a 15th century sculpture, but both created by human hands and portraying our perceptions about life, love, death, and God. Perhaps Jesus Christ portrayed the most radical image of all when he said,

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." —Matthew 7:12

...and then proceeded to do so.

[rwmcbean]

as others have noted, i think the first picture is of the shroud of turin. that is a perfect metaphor because the shroud is of indeterminate origin and has all kinds of pseudo-sciene associated with it. thus the message is that faith rules over science and reason.

[TheCat]

Hi, I just discovered your blog -- I clicked on the photo of the young Schiavos from another site. I am a writer by profession, but I was an art history major in college, so I an interested analysis of images.

With regard to the above, it does remind me of the Pieta, though I didn't notice it at first. There are many versions of that image throughout history, Michelangelo (first) being the most famous.

It is interesting that she is not only a holding an image of Jesus, but one where is dead (allegedly taken from his shroud.) And one that the faithful would say is not a man made one, but a kind of spiritual photograph. In this sense, it mirrors pictures of Terri, propped up, in bed. The protester is obviously not simply trying to remind people of the teachings of Jesus, but to visually equate Terri with the crucified Christ.

Holding a painting of an active, living Jesus lecturing his students wouldn't have quite the same effect, would it?

One more thought. The rain, the hood, the stooped and pained expression, the loneliness of the person, all convey the impression of someone struggling against powerful forces. (Less so, is she were one of crowd, wearing a t-shirt, on a sunny day) One glance, and the message you get is "Young Girl Suffers for Standing Up for Christianity")

[TheCat]

Hi, I just discovered your blog -- I clicked on the photo of the young Schiavos from another site. I am a writer by profession, but I was an art history major in college, so I an interested analysis of images.

With regard to the above, it does remind me of the Pieta, though I didn't notice it at first. There are many versions of that image throughout history, Michelangelo (first) being the most famous.

It is interesting that she is not only a holding an image of Jesus, but one where is dead (allegedly taken from his shroud.) And one that the faithful would say is not a man made one, but a kind of spiritual photograph. In this sense, it mirrors pictures of Terri, propped up, in bed. The protester is obviously not simply trying to remind people of the teachings of Jesus, but to visually equate Terri with the crucified Christ.

Holding a painting of an active, living Jesus lecturing his students wouldn't have quite the same effect, would it?

One more thought. The rain, the hood, the stooped and pained expression, the loneliness of the person, all convey the impression of someone struggling against powerful forces. (Less so, is she were one of crowd, wearing a t-shirt, on a sunny day) One glance, and the message you get is "Young Girl Suffers for Standing Up for Christianity")

[MonsieurGonzo]

"After studying images of mouth-sealed protesters; potential trespassers; Terri with Michael, and Terri with Mom, maybe I'm ready for my own calm exit from this story." -BAGman

US: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!

'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig!

'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!

THIS... IS AN EX-PARROT!!

(pause)

BAGman: Well, I'd better replace it, then.

-MontyPython

[George Myers]

That is interesting observation, one I wouldn't have made even though I had seen the "Pieta" from behind thick purplish glass at the New York World's Fair in 1964.

There is a beautiful white copy of the "Pieta" in the St. Joseph's Seminary, in Yonkers, NY, and other statuary, one a native American. The Seminary once was to have been "condemned" for a site of public housing. Ironically, the Valentine House once there, (now an archaeology site) was instrumental, on a high point, for General Washington's intelligence and the eventual defeat of the British, who occupied Fort Golgotha in Huntington, NY.

[George Myers]

You got me, I missed the Capitol dome, which was made and assembled by Janes and Kirtland, for a tiny bit over $1 million during the Lincoln Administration. It was cast in the Bronx, NY, the company once near the African Burial Ground, on Duane Street in Manhattan, before being "removed" to the Bronx. The previous dome was more like a "hatbox" and Lincoln it's said thought the new one symbolic of bringing the Union back together. Lifted into place with horsepower, block and tackle, and labor, J. & K. had previously produced, after a fire, an all cast iron Library of Congress, got a foot in the door, and other structures resulted, some superseded as the Nation grew in size. Janes and Kirtland was in business until the 1960's.

[Karen]

The image the woman up top is holding is, as others have noted, the top portion of the Shroud of Turin, long believed to be a holy relic: the cloth that shrouded Jesus when he was buried, and was left behind after his resurrection.

The use of that image is specifically evoking the Crucifixion: the politically-based execution of an innocent person. Representatives of the State made the decision, after court proceedings, to put Jesus to death. I don't think we have to reach too far to see what connections the woman holding the image is trying to make.

That all of this is happening over Easter weekend makes it all the more effective.

The composition of the photo itself, though, is particularly striking. The young woman turns her pained and beseeching eyes towards the Capitol, towards the building that houses our own legislative power. Is she entreating them for help? Is she condemning them for their failure?

It's a great photo.

Except, of course, for the part where I'm repelled and revolted by all that this young woman represents.

[Molly]

What saddens me about the whole Schiavo fiasco is how much people are being turned off by Christianity.

It really isn't that bad, folks.

[Charles Cameron]

I've blogged my own variant on your observation here as part of my "DoubleQuotes" series:

http://www.beadgaming.com/2005/03/variation-and-pieta.html