Wings and Horns

Aloft on the wings of desire

Angels—given their centrality in Christian mythologies and the centrality of those mythologies in western culture—have amassed a huge range of representations and meaning across the ages that are mostly heteronormative and patriarchal. In a nod to the 1968 film Barbarella with its very sexual angel figure, I'm likewise portraying male angels as fully erotic, playful, and sensual, but still not without some sharp edges. They represent a balanced combination of sensuality and strength heightened with the vulnerability of being totally—and unashamedly—nude. Male nudity alone threatens the patriarchy, but the nudity of male figures of religious power must be especially disconcerting to the christofascists trying to erase us.

Grabbing life by the horns of plenty

Equally central, a opposed, to the Christian mythologies of angels are the devils and demons. Perhaps they are are even more central, more front of mind to a society hell-bent on punishment and steeped in a toxic brew of shame and scarcity. Just as wings become symbols of going aloft, of purity, of reaching heavenly hights, so the horns became symbols of depravity, desire, and deception. Both are interesting responses to the animal world and our place in it. So here was have the counterparts to the wings, the horns. Equally sexy, equally disconcerting, I hope.