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Marian Shrine Pilgrimages

Fatima

In 2017 hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flocked to Fatima to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Apparitions. The shrine city of Fatima has been an important pilgrimage site since May 13, 1917, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to three young children, asking them to pray for world peace. She asked them to return on the 13th day of each month. The children did, an ever-increasing crowd joining them, until October 13 when she revealed herself as Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope John Paul II beatified two of the children, Jacinta and Francisco (who died several years after the apparitions), on May 13, 2000. The third seer, now Sr. Lucia, was present for the ceremony.

Lourdes

Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous experienced 18 apparitions of a lady wearing a white veil and a blue girdle holding a rosary of pearls. On her 16th appearance the lady revealed herself: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’ After the apparitions, many pilgrims began coming to Lourdes to see Bernadette and to hear her recount her story. In January 1862 the Church recognized the authenticity of the events at the Grotto. Since then, close to six million pilgrims visit the shrine at Lourdes annually. Many of them seek cures in the healing waters of the miraculous spring that appeared when Bernadette dug at the ground at Mary’s instructions.

Knock Shrine

Ireland’s Knock Shrine, located in County Mayo, attracts 1.5 million pilgrims annually. The Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of Knock Parish Church on August 21, 1879. Fifteen villagers witnessed the apparition and since then Knock has become an internationally known Marian Shrine. Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Knock in 1979 to commemorate the centennial of the apparition, and inspired even deeper devotion to the shrine. A typical pilgrimage to the Shrine includes a visit to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and an opportunity to pray to Our Lady of Knock.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Dressed as an Aztec princess, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a devout Catholic native man, four times in December 1531. Appearing on Tepeyac Hill, she asked him to have a chapel built in her honor. So he went to his archbishop and told him of the apparition and Our Lady’s request. But the skeptical archbishop wanted a miraculous sign before he’d consent to building a chapel. Consequently, Mary told Juan Diego she’d give him a sign and asked him to gather flowers at the top of Tepeyac Hill. When he climbed the hill, he found Castilian roses on the otherwise barren hilltop.  Juan Diego returned to the archbishop with the roses enclosed in his cape, or tilma. When he opened it, the roses fell out revealing an imprint of Our Lady on the lining of his tilma. Today the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most visited sacred sites in the world.

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Shrines as a memorial 

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How does this subject area relate to the bigger picture of my own area of expertise? Have I explored similar concepts before? Will I be able to utilise mediums, techniques, materials that you have mastered on the course so far?

I have explored similar areas through previous projects on foundation, relating to religion and the Idea of worship. Within fine art rotation I began to look at cult rituals, and the use of shrines to highlight a groups dedication. I often am drawn to the controversial connotations of religion due to my own religious upbringing and am looking forward to explore this further through similar mediums I have explored this year. I am hoping to utilise the mediums and materials which I have learnt on this course so far, such as photography and print as starting points. However it is the 3D projects such as ‘world building’, or ‘you've been framed’ where I found the 3D element of working critical to creating worlds. I think this would be most effective for my project, exploring the physical attributes to shrines, by creating my own and experimenting with what personal and domestic shrines are in relation to the the religious context of shrines.

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Artists Shrines 2

Considering the way people use shrines to present their own interests and cultural influences, could we consider an artists own studio as a place of worship for their own personal interests to art, the same way we consider preserved houses such as Elvis's house in Grace land orJayne Mansfield's pink palace. Studios owned by artists such as Rene Magritte, Jackson Pollock and Barbara Hepworths act as shrines to the followers of their practices and shrines to themselves. It is the way these memorial have maintained over the past years, and have turned into museums that have given this arguable definition of a shrine “a special place in which you remember and praise someone who has died, especially someone famous”

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There were parties of schoolgirls, some very young indeed, and even pregnant women come to worship at the shrine of Frida, as if it were essential for babies in utero to imbibe her message.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2005/06/at-the-shrine-of-frida/

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Artist shrines

As well as pop culture, there are many shrines people have to artists, weather this be through the ownership of their artwork, dedication to them through going to exhibitions, or simply real shrines, as there is a lot to Frida Kalo.

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what can a shrine be?

Religious statues

Memorial

Birdhouses

Kitchen

Fridge

Bedroom

Wardrobe

Stamp collection

House

Bookshelf

Inside a Fridge

Bathroom

Body of work

Coat

Phone

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

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Popular Culture shrines

More obvious shrines we can associate to the traditional contexts are those obsessive collections which people proudly display in intimate settings such as their bedrooms. Common shrines seem to be those dedicated to music artists. Dedicated fans using this to prove their commitment and adoration for an artist.

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“Marriage shrine” and “Couple visiting marriage shrine” by GREYSON PERRY

Taking the visual language or yard shrines, in this piece artist Greyson Perry suggests the shrines purpose in proof of commitment, in this case to a partner in marriage. The satirical nature of the photograph piece, with the couple awkward, superficial stance and holding of hands, suggests his criticism of the shrine, and its purpose. This is something I would like to explore, not only questioning the purpose of a shrine, but their real power in different contexts.

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Jayne Mansfield's Pink Palace

An example of a house being a shrine to ones self, wholly selfish and vainly. She bought this Spanish style mansion in the early 1950s, and spent $76,000 turning it into her famously known “pink palace”. This became her brand, and iconic parts such as her carpeted bathroom, and heart shaped pool show her own style and personality manifest itself in a piece of architecture.

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