The unexpected influencer.
This post is about having an unexpected, ethereal character which I have been able to relate to on a whole new level.
I felt the urge to write about this important figure because it has been extremely interesting to meet her on numerous occasions. I wonder if any of you have had surprising characters who have, unbeknown, influenced you?
Let me start by saying I am not religious; but I've always had a spiritual side. The feeling of something guiding me, larger than myself, that led me into specific coincidences through certain situations or people that I needed at that precise point in time. I've always found it easy to make big, life-changing decisions, completely trusting that if something is proposed in front of my nose then it must be the right thing at that moment to choose. But for some reason, the Virgin Mary/ Madonna/ Maria/ Jesus's Mum has shown her face at particular milestones in my life. I would like to take you through each one of them, because for me it has been truly fascinating.
In the Western civilisation that we live in I believe it's quite normal to be confronted with religious symbols whether we want to or not, but Mary has always chosen to appear so evidently in mine, defining clear turning points. I've had to play and step inside of her character on three different occasions, through stage and film.
It started on my primary school stage. It was every kids' nightmare at Christmas time to stick a pillow under their dress and tell the story of the nativity. I think the humiliation, combined with the 'first real stage experience' stuck, and now resulted in being one of my earliest childhood memories.
The second time she appeared was when my non-religious ballet director presented, for my birthday, a silver pendant with a picture of Mary cradling Jesus. She had said that I reminded her of this picture. This came a couple of months after filming a short, futuristic, student film, where I had played Mary struggling with the process of picking her "perfect designer baby"- my first real film experience.
The third, was when I was going through one of the most difficult times in my life, and during this had had a lot of pain in my body. At the same time I was rehearsing to play her in our Christmas ballet. Her character saved me on those days, because I found that when I was playing her I could only focus on being soft, loving and compassionate...This Mary deserves a whole other post and I hope to tell you all about her one of these days.
During a trip last year, with an attempt to escape reality, I was travelling to the most northern civilisation in the world: Svalbard. I had a layover in Oslo and the one thing I chose to visit, aside from a dear friend, was the Munch Museum. One painting particularly caught my eye. It was her. The Madonna. As captivating as she was in front of me, painted by a non-religious painter. She was completely relaxed, and yet quietly confident in her naked perfect form. She was painted like we'd never seen her before. I was so drawn to her and I had to take a copy, perhaps seeing some similarity of her in myself. Later, I would pass her to a friend whom I thought could enjoy her.
As controversial as it was, being an agnostic and having this lady appear so clearly at times in my life, I chose to focus on what she represented in Western society: creation, hope, bravery, hardship, love, eternity, miracle, beauty, motherhood, femininity... These were perhaps the things in my life which held as a reminder to me, all summed up into one character, that that's what I needed to focus on most.
Tell me, do you have a character who holds something symbolic and precious to you? If not, that's ok, but I thought it would be nice that in a world full of Kardashian-lovers, we could all find our own Mary!
I felt the urge to write about this important figure because it has been extremely interesting to meet her on numerous occasions. I wonder if any of you have had surprising characters who have, unbeknown, influenced you?
Let me start by saying I am not religious; but I've always had a spiritual side. The feeling of something guiding me, larger than myself, that led me into specific coincidences through certain situations or people that I needed at that precise point in time. I've always found it easy to make big, life-changing decisions, completely trusting that if something is proposed in front of my nose then it must be the right thing at that moment to choose. But for some reason, the Virgin Mary/ Madonna/ Maria/ Jesus's Mum has shown her face at particular milestones in my life. I would like to take you through each one of them, because for me it has been truly fascinating.
In the Western civilisation that we live in I believe it's quite normal to be confronted with religious symbols whether we want to or not, but Mary has always chosen to appear so evidently in mine, defining clear turning points. I've had to play and step inside of her character on three different occasions, through stage and film.
It started on my primary school stage. It was every kids' nightmare at Christmas time to stick a pillow under their dress and tell the story of the nativity. I think the humiliation, combined with the 'first real stage experience' stuck, and now resulted in being one of my earliest childhood memories.
The second time she appeared was when my non-religious ballet director presented, for my birthday, a silver pendant with a picture of Mary cradling Jesus. She had said that I reminded her of this picture. This came a couple of months after filming a short, futuristic, student film, where I had played Mary struggling with the process of picking her "perfect designer baby"- my first real film experience.
The third, was when I was going through one of the most difficult times in my life, and during this had had a lot of pain in my body. At the same time I was rehearsing to play her in our Christmas ballet. Her character saved me on those days, because I found that when I was playing her I could only focus on being soft, loving and compassionate...This Mary deserves a whole other post and I hope to tell you all about her one of these days.
During a trip last year, with an attempt to escape reality, I was travelling to the most northern civilisation in the world: Svalbard. I had a layover in Oslo and the one thing I chose to visit, aside from a dear friend, was the Munch Museum. One painting particularly caught my eye. It was her. The Madonna. As captivating as she was in front of me, painted by a non-religious painter. She was completely relaxed, and yet quietly confident in her naked perfect form. She was painted like we'd never seen her before. I was so drawn to her and I had to take a copy, perhaps seeing some similarity of her in myself. Later, I would pass her to a friend whom I thought could enjoy her.
As controversial as it was, being an agnostic and having this lady appear so clearly at times in my life, I chose to focus on what she represented in Western society: creation, hope, bravery, hardship, love, eternity, miracle, beauty, motherhood, femininity... These were perhaps the things in my life which held as a reminder to me, all summed up into one character, that that's what I needed to focus on most.
Tell me, do you have a character who holds something symbolic and precious to you? If not, that's ok, but I thought it would be nice that in a world full of Kardashian-lovers, we could all find our own Mary!
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