Worshipper of the Virgin

In her photography, Maritza Alvarez powerfully vindicates women as a societal force in the male-dominated culture of the Dominican Republic. Worshipper of the Virgin embodies the crossroads of colonialism and contemporary society, invoking the Virgen de la Altagracia, the patron saint of the nation and believed to have aided the Dominicans in their fight for independence. In the present photography, a woman holds a faded painting of the Virgin in her arms, suggesting an enduring and postcolonial link between syncretic Christianity and national identity. The painting pays homage to a foundational feminine icon, and yet its inclusion within the photograph calls into question the place of Catholicism—and the role it accords to women—on the island today.

Text credit: Produced in collaboration with the University of Maryland Department of Art History & Archaeology and by Gavvyn Flores