Location: Institute of Sacred Music
ISM Gallery of Sacred Arts
409 Prospect St.
New Haven, CT
Admission: Free
Open to: General Public
Description: Highly Favored: Contemporary Images of the Virgin Mary, on display at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music
Opening Reception on Thursday, March 6th from 4:30-6:00pm
Highly Favored: Contemporary Images of the Virgin Mary, a traveling exhibition from Christians in the Visual Arts will be on display weekdays 9am – 4pm. Presented by the Institute with support from Yale Divinity School, the exhibition is free and open to the public.
The story of the birth of Christ has a protagonist that makes all stories of motherhood pale by comparison: the faithful and seemingly fearless servant of God, Mary.
How does Mary as an historical person, a spiritual mentor, and a cultural image serve the contemporary church and world as a source and resource to understand and experience the interpenetration of the human and the divine? In what ways has our image of humanity in general and woman in particular been formed and transformed by her, our reflections on her, and our images of her? In what distinct ways does she inspire theological reflection and artistic vision in each of the three major traditions of the Church?
Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions all have images of this young Jewish woman who was declared by the archangel Gabriel to be “highly favored” in God’s sight. Who exactly is Mary? How can we recover a larger sense of her meaning through the works of contemporary artists from the Christian traditions and the reflections of contemporary thinkers from these traditions?