London's Wellcome Collection is hosting Miracles and Charms, comprising two special exhibitions exploring faith, hope, and chance, entitled Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintings and Charmed Life: The solace of objects.
Infinitas Gracias: Mexican Miracle Paintings
The exhibition, Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintings has been curated by artist Antonia Bruce with James Peto of the Wellcome Collection. The installation showcases more than one hundred Mexican votive paintings, dating from the 18th century to the present day. The exhibition looks at the importance of the votive tradition in Mexico, and any visitor to a Mexican church will testify to the thousands of small paintings lining the walls.
A votive is a tiny painting, relating a deeply personal story, thereby providing an important insight into the history of the community in which it originated. Votive paintings are often created on small pieces of canvas, plaques and tin. They show moments of personal humility when a person petitions a saint for help and is saved from everyday calamities such as gun fights, danger at sea, ill health, or even death.
This is the first major exhibition of votive paintings to take place outside Mexico with loans from institutions and sanctuaries including: Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones; Museo Nacional de Historia; Museo Regional de Puebla; Museo Regional de Guadalajara; Museo de la Basilica de Guadalupe; Santuario de San Francisco de Asis de la Diócesis de Matehuala; and Iglesia del Cristo de Villaseca de Mineral de Cata. The exhibition is supported, and coordinated, by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Mexico.
Highlights of the Exhibition
- The Votive on canvas (1862) tells the story of Miguel Zusano and Nicolas Castelan who, on 23rd September 1862, were abducted from their homes by a mob of ten gangsters. As they left the town the group split up. Six went one way, and the remaining four took Zusano and Castelan into a forest. They forced Zusano to his knees in order to execute him, but the captives prayed to Senor del Convento for help. One of the gang took pity and released them.
- The Votive on perforated tin (1926) tells the story of Maria Luz Cornegio, who fell from a rooftop during the Fiesta of San Sebastian. As she fell she invoked the Holy Virgin of Carmel who saved her from certain death. The retablo is dedicated to this event.
The installation is enhanced by film and interviews, images, photographs and news reports, as well as devotional artefacts. The tradition of votive offerings continues in the 21st century and this is represented by a wall of contemporary pieces from a church in Guanajuato, together with a display of clothing, flowers, certificates, photographs, and letters.
Charmed Life: The solace of objects
Charmed Life: The solace of objects, curated by artist Felicity Powell, features amulets from the collection of banker/folklorist Edward Lovett, which forms part of Henry Wellcome's collection of over 30,000 amulets. The Lovett collection is housed at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, where it is rarely displayed.
Exhibits, ranging from carved shells and coins to dead animals, explore the connections between faith, mortality and healing, showing how people reacted to chance and suffering in everyday life. The installation also features amulets and videos newly created by Felicity Powell, who explores the strong relationship between the amulet and its owner, and especially the artist's own desire for good health. Video presentations, showing how Powell creates her pieces, are accompanied by medical scans of her body, overlaid with images of amulets from the Lovett collection.
Highlights of the Exhibition
- To choose highlights from this exhibition is almost impossible, but for me the most memorable item is a tiny disc of paper on which is written The Lord's Prayer. In 1872, an 88-year-old man, George Yeofound, wrote the prayer on one side of a piece of paper, about the size of a small coin. He started at the outer edge spiralling into the centre, and the writing is so tiny that it can only be read when magnified. On the reverse he wrote: "Mr Mayes [illegible letters] The Lord's Prayer within the circle of a sovereign by George [?] Yeofound A Comm General & Major. Aged 88 years Southampton 9th of September 1872."
Miracles and Charms will be on display from 6th October 2011 to 26 February 2012. The exhibition will be accompanied by a wide variety of educational and public events, and further details can be obtained from The Wellcome Collection.
Source:
- The Wellcome Collection
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
