Ferguson Mother of God: Our Lady against all Gun Violence, 2015
Acrylic Collage painting © Mark Dukes
From Sojourners:
*Mark Dukes discovered Byzantine styled icons in his twenties after leaving art school to go on a spiritual quest. He investigated a calling to be a monk in an Eastern Orthodox monastery in Texas where he saw Byzantine styled icons for the first time. He fell in love with the form and continued to 'write' icons even after he decided that he didn't have a calling to be a monk and had left the monastery. He has been blessed to have worked on the iconographic programs of two nationally recognized churches- St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church and the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church- both of San Francisco. Through these projects, his work has been featured in national magazines such as Vibe, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times Magazine.
(https://www.requiemfor10000souls.com/mark-dukes-bio-page/)
![Ferguson Mother of God: Our Lady against all Gun Violence, 2015 Acrylic Collage painting © Mark Dukes Used with permission of the artist.]()
!['Of Black Men And Absentee Founding Fathers Or... Back In The Day Of Emancipation and Independence. (Propivis Nos Respice Semper.)' Mixed media acrylic collage painting with gold metal leaf on wood panel. 60" x 84" © Mark Dukes Used with permission of the artist.]()
!['And Of That Day? St. Demetrius Shall Come Saying, "Black Lives Matter." (Also Featuring Nova Prime and Buck Nig Arrgh(!)') Mixed media acrylic collage painting with silver metal leaf on wood panel. 60" x 84" © Mark Dukes Used with permission of the artist.]()
Fr. James Martin, S.J., a Jesuit priest and popular author and speaker, shared July 9 on Facebook an icon of “Our Lady of Ferguson and All Those Killed by Gun Violence.”
In the icon, Mary is depicted as a black woman with her hands up. Where her womb would be is a small black silhouette of Jesus in a similar posture, but in the crosshairs of a gun.
The posture, while a clear reference to the “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan birthed in Ferguson, Mo., in response to police violence, is also the “orans” position of prayer, as Fr. Martin explained. Orans, which in Latin means “praying,” is a position that designates pleading or supplication to God.
“Essentially an icon is an invitation to prayer and meditation,” Fr. Martin wrote.
“Our Lady prays for all who are targeted by gun violence: African-Americans, the poor and marginalized, and police officers. All are her children. All are our brothers and sisters. Let us ask Our Lady to pray for us.”
Icons are commonly described as “written,” not “painted.” The Our Lady of Ferguson was written by Mark Dukes*. It was commissioned by the Rev. Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones of Trinity Church Wall Street.
This is not the only icon written in response to recent acts of violence. Nikola Saric, a Serbian artist, wrote a haunting icon in response to the martyrdom of 21 Christians who were beheaded by ISIS in February 2015.
*Mark Dukes discovered Byzantine styled icons in his twenties after leaving art school to go on a spiritual quest. He investigated a calling to be a monk in an Eastern Orthodox monastery in Texas where he saw Byzantine styled icons for the first time. He fell in love with the form and continued to 'write' icons even after he decided that he didn't have a calling to be a monk and had left the monastery. He has been blessed to have worked on the iconographic programs of two nationally recognized churches- St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church and the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church- both of San Francisco. Through these projects, his work has been featured in national magazines such as Vibe, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times Magazine.
(https://www.requiemfor10000souls.com/mark-dukes-bio-page/)
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