She Was Pierced For Her Transgressions

Steven Curtis’s She Was Pierced For Her Transgressions is a complex and visually engaging work that can be interpreted in a host of (often contradictory) ways. From Curtis’s description of the painting—particularly where he highlights its dissemination to diverse corners of the internet—I imagine he is well aware of its conceptual fluidity. Curtis and I, or any other variation of interpersonal opinion, could have very different understandings of the work. Still, I suspect we would all agree that the painting would challenge people adverse to subversion and counter-cultural sentiment. So, everything I say from here on out is not the artist's opinion (in fact, it could be antithetical to his), but I think there is a mutual comradery in appreciating that even if we vehemently disagree, disagreement is better than conformity.

When I look at She Was Pierced For Her Transgressions and consider my history, heroes, discontents, and perspectives on authority, I get a sense of revolutionary rejection of tradition and its stifling embrace. I have never liked people telling me what to do. I think very few people do. However, as I’ve gotten older and supposedly wiser, I’ve become more attuned to what criticism is justified and what criticism comes from a sense of rigid adherence to a mandated sense of normalcy. I have been obstinate, thrown tantrums, and felt jealous when I had no right to, but my immediate sympathy is with the obstinate. I vehemently support a degree of moral absolutism; some things are never right under any circumstances, at any time, no matter what cultural norms one is subject to. However, what is considered “good” or “bad” behavior, attire, or attitude is often different iterations of the same drive to control instead of setting free the human spirit. The consequences of just expressing who we are or vocalizing the discomfort of the chains forced upon us often feels like an inquisition. Our mouths (and, more importantly, the words they utter) feel like pincushions pierced by the needles of anger at divergence from the path of our forebearers. Regardless of what you think or where you come from, She Was Pierced For Her Transgressions is challenging, beautifully wrought, and vivid (and, for me at least, relatable).