Via Instagram
Harmonia Rosales is a self-taught Afro-Cuban, Chicago-based artist finding success - and controversy - by flipping the script on fine art and “classical” religious images.
Studies have long shown the power of art to affect people’s self-image. Her most famous pieces recreate iconic religious paintings - such as The Birth of Venus and The Creation of Adam - but with Black women as the central figures.
“When you consider that all human life came out of Africa, the Garden of Eden and all, then it only makes sense to paint God as a black woman,” she told BuzzFeed.
“When all we see in art history is a male-dominated white heaven, we become the inferior,” she continued. Christianity teaches that human beings are made in the image of God. So shouldn’t our images of God reflect the beauty of Blackness as well?
Her incredible work has, of course, got white people - who are used to being the only ones seen as beautiful, angelic beings - incredibly upset. Rosales suffered a barrage of racist attacks when her paintings first went viral on Instagram.
But she’s not stopping. With customers such as Erykah Badu and Samuel L. Jackson, and fans around the world, Rosales is continuing her important work and has big dreams. When asked where she’d most love to see her work hung, she answered simply: “The White House.”