Harmonia Rosales saw God … and She is a black woman.
The Chicago-native recently created a stir after painting a reimagining of Michelangelo's famous piece, Creation of Adam featuring God as a black woman. The powerful image was born from Rosales' idea of "creating artwork with meaning."
After clearly making a mark via social media — Twitter, specifically is all abuzz — BET talked with the artist to chat about her inspirations and her feelings surrounding the wide range of reactions to her piece.
“A woman is a woman: black, white or any color," Rosales said. "We have been taught that God created 'man' in his own image. [But] in fact, we have created God in our own image. So ‘God’ is whoever we want God to be, a representation of the ideal, of the divine, of wisdom and love and pure creativity. Let's face it, creativity, starting with the womb, is a female attribute.”
“I knew my transformation would draw attention to the statement I wanted to make, but the point here is to consider why we have accepted our historical representation of the beginning of life, of the Creator,” she continued. “The original representation excludes something very important: women and people of color. I wanted people to consider creation through a different lens that, in turn, would cause us to consider the way we see everything else we have been taught to see. Perhaps it is time to rethink.”
On the positive feedback (both national and international) she has received, Rosales noted, "It warms my heart to read emails that express love for the image. It’s very inspiring to read words of gratitude from all people.”
@ylerosa
@hausmuva GORGEOUS!!! ????????????— Sharon (@sharonreader) May 11, 2017
@ylerosa
@Remdelarem If this was a picture I would buy it today!!!!— GreenfieldsofEmma (@EmmaGreenfield4) May 14, 2017
Of course, amongst the positivity, there were a few haters.
@BuzzFeed How dare they ruin one of Michelangelo's most famous works. Destroy it! It's a disgrace towards his legacy.
— Rynosaurus Rex (@RyanPimpin) May 18, 2017
@BuzzFeed replacing white art with black people= stunning
replacing black art with white people= cultural appropriation. You are the problem buzzfeed— avery (@ayyverybaxter) May 19, 2017
@BuzzFeed "The Birth of Welfare"
— ☆Jorskinator☆ (@Jorskinator) May 19, 2017
Rosales' response to the haters?
"Thank you. Their comments prove my point that we need more images of empowerment. That is what the reimagining series is all about: to empower the underrepresented and misrepresented.”
Rosales certainly isn't a stranger to reimagining existing works/images and inserting black culture, as her Instagram account has a few examples of such.
“The only way I can see to make a difference is painting these characters in all shades and reimagining the story for our youth,” she mused. So dope!
