Play Dough Polka Popes by Miriam Jonas
With this week’s Pope Mania, we take a trip back to 2011 for Miriam Jonas’ Polka Popes. Jonas, a Berlin-based artist, sculpted portraits of fictitious popes using colorful play dough. She then placed the Polka Popes inside of empty fish tins and installed them on a large wall.
Miriam’s portraits are a satire on consumer culture and the modern church, reducing larger than life clerical figures into products ready for consumption. The fish cans are a winking reference to traditional Christian symbols.
Perhaps one of my gentile readers could explain how fish cans reference Christian symbols.
Google Translate is particularly unapologetic with Jonas’ website, but from what I can tell, she uses the playful medium and bright colors to disarm her audience so that she can confront us with her message. Well played, Miriam!
It’s been a while since we’ve had a musical pairing. Here we go.
Click through for more Polka Popes.
The only thing I can think of with regards to the fish can is that ‘Jesus fish’ that some Christians put on their car. I think it is more of a born-again thing, not Catholic though.