Art Practice Commons^™

Hail Mother, Sydney Walters

CGU MFA Theses

My work disrupts two kinds of power: gender roles in religious practices, and the perceived power of a ritual object. Constructions of gender and power are thrown onto a stage and cast in a sincere parody that ultimately liberates underrepresented people to perform with agency.

My larger-than-life figures examine who holds power in religious institutions. The figures challenge the intelligibility of their identity because she/they are dressed in religious regalia. In Western Catholicism, maleness is the pre-requisite for priesthood. These church leaders are distinguished by wielding specific religious regalia: i.e. the Ring of the Fisherman, Episcopal gloves, and globus crucigur. …