Harmonia Rosales: God as a Black Woman

God reimagined as a black woman. Why not?

The Creation of God by Harmonia Rosales

Wikipedia: Harmonia Rosales
Harmonia Rosales (b. 1984) is an Afro-Cuban American artist from Chicago. She is known for her art replacing white male subjects in pieces of classic art with black women. She achieved viral status on social media with her painting "The Creation of God," which reimagines all the characters of Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" with black women.

official web site: Harmonia Rosales
I believe in creating art with meaning--meaning with impact, moving people to see the world differently and to be guided by that new vision. Based in Chicago, my inspiration arises from living life as a woman of color. My art is born out of a combination of my love for history, thirst for endless new knowledge, and dedication to social action. In refining my work, I have been able to shape a unique perspective built on the foundation of an appreciation of traditional expression and form, with structure and story that creates a bold new contemporary counter narrative--on the elements of the story, as well as the elements of the process of storytelling. Art is my weapon in the ongoing battle against indifference and inaction. It forms the basis of resistance.

The visual narratives of the “masters” depicting a White heaven and the idealized subordinated woman lay at the foundation of our mediated reality of social order and a power hierarchy. They block our path to the truth.

My exhibits intend to begin to clear that blockage by deconstructing the dominant social narrative through the same medium that helped create it.

Instagram: @honeiee (Harmonia Rosales)

Birth of Oshun by Harmonia Rosales

New York Post - May 30/2017
Uproar over artist’s painting of God as a black woman by Raquel Laneri
“The Creation of Adam” is one of the most famous works of art ever created — and one of the most copied, remixed and parodied. But a Chicago artist’s reimagining of Michelangelo’s masterpiece has ruffled some feathers.

Harmonia Rosales’ new work, “The Creation of God,” riffs on Michelangelo’s portrayal of God’s creation of Earth’s first human, Adam. But her version depicts the deity not as a white-haired white man, but as a black woman, reaching out to touch another, younger black woman.

Blavity - Apr 27/2017
This Artist Painted God As A Black Woman — And Folks Are So Mad
Harmonia Rosales saw God ... and She is a black woman.

The Chicago-native recently created a stir after painting a reimagining of Michelangelo's famous piece, Creation of Adam featuring God as a black woman. The powerful image was born from Rosales' idea of "creating artwork with meaning."

Los Angeles Times - Sep 21/2017
Words and Pictures: Viral artist Harmonia Rosales' first collection of paintings reimagines classic works with black femininity by Sonaiya Kelley
Harmonia Rosales' work has gone viral — which is both a good and bad thing.

The Afro Cuban artist's oil painting "Creation of God" — modeled after Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" with God depicted as a black woman — garnered thousands of likes and comments when it went on Instagram in the spring, attracting big-name fans like Samuel L. Jackson, Willow Smith and Erykah Badu. But it also provoked the ire of trolls.

"It was more shocking not because of the praise but [because of] the negative comments," the 33-year-old Chicago native said at a VIP opening of her work at a Los Angeles gallery on Saturday. "People said, 'God should not be a black or Muslim or anything like that,' and that tells me that what I'm doing is not only what needs to be done, but I need to keep going."

"This [concept] is not fact. Why have we accepted this image of God being a white male for so long? We should start asking ourselves why."

2019-05-03

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