This is my fourth series of art works based on myth and biblical stories that impart models of human behaviour. For many years I had been inspired by mythological stories, as they speak of, in the words of Mircea Eliade, the eminent Romanian scholar of religious studies, the eternal aspects of life such as love, beauty and heroism, all of them giving great value and profound meaning to life.
Over the last two decades, as our society sees rapid technology advancement, a large number of artists have been turning to computers for inspiration creating mostly abstract art. However, after all this time of computer generated artworks I believe that now there is a need for the return to a more humanist approach to art and the artistic experience. This type of art satisfies our emotional and spiritual needs, a tradition that spans many centuries. Its insightful and invaluable aspects contributed immensely to the advancement of civilization. Today when we enter museums and view the art work, we imagine and appreciate those long gone artists painting, printing or carving, with diligence and with reverence.
In creating mosaics with a humanist outlook, aside from the emotional and spiritual nourishment gained, I am also able to convey my respect for the preceding centuries of artistic output; moreover, the humanist approach provides another means of viewing narratives in art, another window into the soul without relying on the written word.
A great deal of research was required in order to understand and execute mosaics for the present series highlighting the biblical figure, Mary Magdalene. As with the previous series, I did not consider the historicity of the biblical figures I chose to work with in the Mary Magdalene series. I regard biblical and apocryphal stories in my research as mythology; consequently, as mythological female figures, my protagonists become essential archetypes for the role models needed in maintaining a balanced and healthy society.
In the last 2,000 years we have been offered almost exclusively masculine achievements immortalized in mosaics and other permanent materials as heroes and hence role models, an aspect totally detrimental to women.
In order to render the female experience equal in cultural and perhaps even in religious value to that of the male, I offer the veneration and acceptability of Mary Magdalene equal to the profuse and extravagant representation of male heroes in mosaic art seen throughout the ages. This was achieved by using monumental sizes for my mosaic panels and costly material for their execution, such as hand-made Venetian glass, gold and semiprecious stones.
Dr. Angela Clarke, the curator of this Mary Magdalene mosaic exhibition, writes in her essay “Breaking Down Barriers: Antiquity and Post Modernity:”
In art history and literature discourse the work of women artists and women’s stories are always associated with the intimate and the small, as if they dare not take up valuable space and time. Broca expressly desires that these stories of women should take up space, time and even more room should be made for female achievement in future. By telling these stories of ancient heroic women in monumental media she demands space for diversity of opinion. Most importantly she wants to construct a history which reveals to future generations that the voice and face of history is not entirely a masculine one, even in the militarized world of antiquity.[1]
In my previous narrative mosaic series on biblical Queen Esther and apocryphal Judith, I clearly depicted the tactics used by these two wise and courageous, young female heroines. Youth was the only window of opportunity for all women in ancient times if they were to use their feminine beauty to achieve a desired goal. During that strategic but narrow window, beautiful Esther and Judith employed the only weapon they possessed—female sexuality—in their fight for survival for themselves and for their community.
Unlike them in many respects, yet equally courageous, loyal and determined, Mary Magdalene survived not only fierce enemies wishing her harm once Yeshua or Jesus died on the cross, but also the ensuing 2,000 years of denigration, defamation and vilification.
I chose Mary Magdalene as the series’ protagonist because she qualifies for the courageous woman who left her sanctuary, her family home, to follow a single man without a fixed address or a permanent job, travelling the country accompanied by 12 other men, teaching God’s words. She joined Jesus and followed Him despite being a single female living in a patriarchal society when women were in general terms treated as lesser mortals with few of the privileges bestowed on men. By leaving behind her family and her comfort zone, Mary Magdalene showed a sense of independence and self-assurance rarely found in women of her time.
At the start of this new Mary Magdalene mosaic series, as usual, extensive research came first. Eight months of reading on the subject even before I began sketching, provided me with one of several versions of this ancient story that I decided to explore.
While the canonical Gospels portray Mary Magdalene as the repentant sinner who abandons her wicked ways to follow Yeshua, or Jesus, several Gnostic writings, usually dated to 2nd and 3rd centuries, paint a drastically different picture of her. These depict Mariam (Mary) as Yeshua’s most beloved disciple, as his rightful successor and even as a potential wife. In addition, it is written that she was endowed with knowledge, vision and insight far exceeding that of the Twelve Disciples. The Gnostic Gospel of Philip names Mary Magdalene as Jesus’ companion; Gnostic writings also describe tensions and jealousy between Peter and Mary Magdalene, as well as between her and the other disciples.
Deciding on which scenes would best portray Mary Magdalene as the protagonist and the job of hiring live models, followed.
At this point another very important aspect of a cohesive series of works had to be decided on, namely, the common motif which appears in every mosaic. This unifying motif acts as a visible continuity in all the panels, a consistency and connection of all parts of the mosaics. In my works it also acts as a separator from my other series, reminding viewers that each heroine struggled with her specific set of circumstances. For example: the Queen Esther mosaic series—completed in 2008, depict iron lattices that form gates or window bars symbolizing confinement, barriers and restrictions. For the Judith mosaics, completed in 2015, through the composition of an artist’s sketchbook page with a perforated top and with the transition from the black and white pencil sketch to monochromatic 2D and finally to full colour, I portrayed a gradual rejuvenation of an ancient story through its retelling in a way that provides a bridge across the centuries.
For Mary Magdalene, the power dynamics inherent in her story proved to be considerably more complex. After much deliberation I came up with the idea of illuminated manuscript pages as the unifying motif. Ancient text has always been the root and inspiration for my visual journeys; and the beauty of such illustrated scripture with text produced mostly by monks in the Middle Ages who spent a lifetime illuminating them, really appealed to me. As these textual manuscripts were written in a multitude of languages I decided to also introduce a different ancient script for each mosaic. The seven preliminary drawings therefore, display several lines in seven ancient languages, all spoken at the time of Mary Magdalene: Aramaic, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Armenian, Latin, Amharic and Coptic. Their diversity also symbolizes the numerous versions of Mary’s story and her relationship to Jesus.
After studying the flat two dimensional illuminations from the Middle Ages, I decided to execute the Mary Magdalene series in a similar style that would be reminiscent of the one monks in monasteries preferred and applied.
In addition, my choice of monochromatic colours was the result of 15 years of using bright colours in previous mosaics and besides, I thought grey/black sketchy line drawings with perhaps one key colour would be visually appealing next to the gold areas so prevalent in Illuminated Manuscripts. By now, I had made all the decisions, photographed some models and I was ready to start drawing.
The seven scenes I chose for the drawings and hence the mosaics, are, in chronological order: The Sacred Union, The Washing of Feet, The Anointing, Witnesses at the Cross, Noli Me Tangere, Defiled and Defamed, and finally Awaiting Emanuel. Critically for this last drawing and mosaic my approach to Mary Magdalene is entirely on an imaginary symbolical and mythological plane, where she carries the powerful archetype of the sacred feminine—the lost bride, long denied in Christian mythology.
Some of the scenes may appear controversial such as the one where Jesus washes Mary Magdalene’s feet. My understanding is that washing a woman’s feet has never even been considered, let alone drawn or painted in the distant past. And yet, the practice appears in most of the hospitality customs in ancient civilizations, as sandals were the chief footwear in those days. A host would normally provide water to wash the guests’ feet. I propose here, that if indeed Magdalene was the beloved of Jesus as a loyal, intelligent and spiritual follower, then it is conceivable that he would have included her when he washed the feet of the male disciples.
Another controversial aspect in this series is my depicting the Mother of Jesus as an older woman, not the young perpetual virgin most painters and sculptors envisioned and presented in their art. The Virgin in my estimation must have been around 45 years old at the crucifixion, given the young age people married in the 1st century. Yet 45 was considered old and not just because life conditions were harsh and the climate unforgiving, but also because the life span was considerably shorter than today.
Additionally, my research indicated that the Magdalene was a woman who played a major role during or even after the life of Jesus. Although the historical documentation that refers to her following the crucifixion is interwoven with legend and myth, many articles I read say that it’s quite possible Mary was married to Jesus. According to the Cathars in Southern France (considered heretical by the Vatican), Mary and Jesus were unmarried lovers. There are records of Mary Magdalene having preached her Christian message on the steps of the Temple dedicated to the Goddess Diana in Marseilles and that she had a strong following in southern France. With so much speculation on this relationship, in one of the seven drawings and mosaics I chose to show them simply as a loving couple.
Symbolism plays an important part in my artworks and this series is no exception. Each drawing includes symbols that are meaningful in both Judaic and Christian traditions. Whether they are flowers, fruit, boats, pottery, or textile patterns, these symbols speak of the distant past, yet most of them are recognizable even to this day. Just like an illuminated manuscript page I sought to illuminate what lies hidden or repressed through the symbols of the borders. Hopefully, through them, new ideas can be brought to life.
At the same time I also decided to introduce a stamp in order to give the Mosaic Illuminated Page more “authenticity.” Having seen many original illuminated pages in museums throughout Europe and in the US with most of them stamped by the institution as authentic manuscripts, it seemed to be logical and suitable to introduce an original and personal stamp. By coincidence, a few weeks earlier I had found a photo of a broken Roman pillar which at one time was part of a 2nd century fountain in Laodicea, present day Turkey. Carved on one side of the pillar was a menorah with the middle candle forming a tall cross. This photo appeared in the Biblical Archeology Review, a magazine I have been reading for years. So with the idea that Christianity “rose” from Judaism, and adding two M’s in Hebrew to this menorah/cross I had my distinctive stamp, my own authority needed for the interpretation of these biblical events. The stamp appears on every mosaic panel.
The Mosaic Medium
A mosaic is an image made of small pieces of various materials covering a surface and held together by mortar or cement. Coloured opaque glass has been used in wall mosaics for millennia and, although my main art discipline had been painting for several years after graduation, my love and admiration remained for glass tesserae (cubes of glass or stone) used in ancient mosaics. As a painter I tried to bring out light with pigments, but with glass, the medium itself is light caught in and reflected by the completed mosaic. Through the manipulation of that light in my narrative series, I am able to create works that possess both intellectual content and a dynamic, living quality. As mosaic has traditionally depicted the male-dominated world of the past my role as an artist is to reclaim the feminine in this medium. By including women in this art form I am able to make more balanced and universal statements about the human condition.
Before 2002, mosaics were not at all a part of my artistic output. In my studio, however, I had some glass remnants saved over a few decades from my university years when I had briefly experimented with this art form. But in 2003 it had become necessary to enlarge my palette, so I began importing quality “smalto glass” from the Orsoni Foundry in Venice and from Kolorines factory in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The latter dates to the late 1940s when the Mexican muralist movement was flourishing. During this period the Perdomo family in Mexico teamed with Italian Murano glass masters in order to produce the equivalent high quality glass produced in Italian furnaces. They supplied glass to local Mexican artists and architects and soon after, internationally.
Buying smalti was a significant financial investment which, at the beginning of my mosaic phase, limited my working range of colours. Once immersed in this new medium, I soon realized that the brittle quality of glass imposed considerable restrictions never encountered with other media, such as oil, acrylic, graphite or watercolours. Yet instead of becoming bothersome, the medium offered an exciting challenge. I was obliged to change my way of thinking in order to best present the luminescent quality of glass.[2]
The method of making mosaics isalmost as ancient as my heroines are. It is also a labour-intensive procedure. For my Mary Magdalene series, first of all, I had to assemble a large variety of coloured glass. In the distant past, mosaics were placed high up on churches’ walls and domed ceilings; viewers standing some 20 feet or more below were able to see the glass colours well integrated. As a result, those mosaics required fewer shades of the same colour, the crafts person separating the areas within the same colour with dark outlines. Today, we often create mosaic art which is viewed from much closer; these therefore, require an abundance of shades of the same colour.[3]
Once I completed all the drawings, decided on the colour palette, the size and gathered all other materials such as the nippers, pliers, files and tweezers, thinset and spatulas, I felt ready to start cutting. But was I? Seven mosaic panels each 78 x 48in would have taken me more than eight years to fabricate. Smaller mosaics like those from the Queen Esther series took me seven years working on my own in the studio.
I reached out to Mosaika Studio in Montreal who recommended Adeline Benhammouda who used to work in their studio. Adeline and I shared the work on five out of the seven
mosaics. When I got ill and needed hospitalization, the last two were fabricated by the same Mosaika Studio. The collaboration came when my solo exhibition was already booked for 2022 and I needed to meet the deadline. Thankfully, it all worked well.
To sum up: just as in my previous mosaic series, my goal continues to be that of removing female accomplishments from the domestic sphere where they had been relegated in the past and instead, bringing their heroic accomplishments into the city forum, the traditional place where stories of masculine achievement were told. By telling these stories of ancient heroic women in monumental mosiacs I seek to construct a new history which reveals to future generations that the voice and face of ancient history is not entirely a masculine one, even in the patriarchal world of antiquity.[4]
In the Winter 2022 issue of The Biblical Archeology Review, I found three paragraphs on the newly discovered mosaic section belonging to an expansive ancient floor mosaic in the Galilee’s Huqoq synagogue dating from early 5th century CE. The narrative mosaics are arranged in three horizontal registers and cover the story of Deborah and Yael (Book of Judges).
Similar to Judith’s tale where she hopes and prays to have the enemy delivered and killed “by the hands of a woman,” this biblical narrative relates the story of the Judge, Prophetess and Military Heroine Deborah who persuades General Barak to attack the Canaanites who were persecuting Israelite tribes. She prophesizes that the battle will be won but that victory will not bring glory to him, as the Canaanite General Sisera will fall “by the hand of a woman.” That woman was Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, a Canaan sympathizer.
Indeed, Sisera flees the battlefield and takes refuge in Yael’s tent where she offers him a cup of milk and covers him as he lies exhausted in her bed. Yael takes a tent peg and drives it into the sleeping Sisera’s forehead, thus fulfilling Deborah’s earlier prophecy.
This archeological discovery by a team from University of North Carolina comes as a huge surprise. The article confirms that, ”Although women were occasionally depicted in synagogue mosaics, depiction of biblical stories with female heroes like Debora and Yael are rare.”
In this series I am most interested in restoring the feminine power Mary Magdalene possessed in her life time yet gradually lost after Jesus’ death; the understanding of how it happened and the effects it had on what we call “civilization.”[5]
My hope is that the Mary Magdalene mosaic series will reveal new ways to perceive the impactful relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, as well as considering what happened to the relationship in the hands of the manipulative male founders of Christianity. In addition, I hope that through my Mary Magdalene mosaics viewers will be profoundly motivated to re-examine this critical episode of human history.
The success of the mosaic medium relies on the manner of laying the tesserae and the intended image functioning interdependently; each individual piece of glass retains its unique identity yet the eye assimilates the pieces into a whole image. The mosaics’ narrative statement resonating with vibrant colours combined with a surface of glass tesserae laid out in a flowing meaningful manner, are the type of artworks that reflect the current stage in my art.
The curator of Il Museo, Dr. Angela Clarke succinctly summarized it thus: “Through her mosaics, Broca looks to glass shards as a means to remind viewers that the traditional paradigms associated with traditional institutions and power dynamics can be broken through and reconstructed into a world that is more healing.”
[1] MOSAIQUE Magazine, 2020, “Breaking Down Barriers: Antiquity and Post Modernity in Union: The Mosaics of Lilian Broca,” by Dr. Angela Clarke, 32–35.
[2] The Hidden and The Revealed: The Queen Esther Mosaics of Lilian Broca, 2011, by Sheila Campbell, Yosef Wosk and Lilian Broca, Gefen Publishing House Ltd., New York, USA and Jerusalem, Israel, 22.
[3] The Hidden and The Revealed: The Queen Esther Mosaics of Lilian Broca, 2011, by Sheila Campbell, Yosef Wosk and Lilian Broca, Gefen Publishing House Ltd., New York, USA and Jerusalem, Israel, 11–12.
[4] MOSAIQUE Magazine, 2020, “Breaking Down Barriers: Antiquity and Post Modernity in Union: The Mosaics of Lilian Broca,” by Dr. Angela Clarke, 33.
[5] Biblical Archeology Review, Winter 2022, Vol 48, No 4, “Deborah and Barak at Huqoq,” 14.