Mari

When we hear the name Mary Magdalene, the first thing our mind associates her with is Mary who was a repentant prostitute. Yet if read correctly in the New Testament, she is the second most important woman after Mary the Mother of Jesus.

Within the four gospels, she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the other apostles. The gospel references describe her as courageous, brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and beyond. She was named to be present at three of the most crucial moments of Jesus Christ life, which today forms the cornerstone of Christianity. During the crucification, after the crucification and at the resurrection.

For someone to have been present at the key moments of Jesus Christ life, there is little known about her and today much speculations abound.

Pope Gregory the Great, 6th century, referred to her as the ‘sinner’ and it was here that the tag of being a prostitute was forever cemented. However, there is no record of her being said to be outrightly so in the New Testament.

During that time, there were many Mary’s that existed, partly due to the name being so popular during the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties of that time. This could be the reason why the true Mary remained illusive.

However, during the papacy of Paul VI, the Vatican, in 1969, without commenting on Pope Gregory’s reasoning, implicitly rejected it by separating Luke’s sinful woman, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdala via the Roman Missal.

With so much of mystery surrounding her, I was compelled to take a journey trying to discover her. this painting is the outcome of that journey into discovering who Mary Magdalene truly is and my proposition of who she could be.