Location: 409 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT
Admission: Free
Open to: General Public
Event description: Native American Grace: The Art of Father John Giuliani will be on display from February 23 through April 2 at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. The paintings in the exhibition emphasize iconic depictions of Native American peoples as Christian saints. The displayed works are on loan from various private collectors throughout the United States.
Asked to explain his decision to portray the faces of the sacred as Native Americans, Fr. Giuliani has written that “as a Catholic priest and son of Italian immigrants, I bear the religious and ethnic burden of ancestral crimes perpetrated on the first inhabitants of the Americas. My intent, therefore, in depicting Christian saints as Native Americans is to acknowledge their original spiritual presence on this land. Many have been converted to Christianity with little of their indigenous culture remaining. It is this lost culture, especially, that I attempt to celebrate in rendering the beauty and excellence of their craft, as well as the dignity of their persons.”
Giuliani’s works have been exhibited in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut, the Marian Institute in Dayton, Ohio, and at the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Many of his works are in churches throughout the country, including permanent installations in churches throughout the Pine Ridge Reservation, the Rosebud, and the Church of
Isaac Jogues, of Rapid City, all in South Dakota; and fourteen panels at the Crow Church of St. Dennis, Crow Agency, Montana.
A reception will be held to honor Fr. Giuliani and the exhibition on Thursday, March 25 from 4:30–6 pm at the Institute. Free parking is available. The exhibition is presented with support from the Yale Divinity School.
