This thesis examines the role of the Manichean dualism, the pervasive colour symbolism of white as good and black as evil. It looks at the manifestation of this symbolism in representations of Christianity, and the subsequent implications for race and racism in Western society. Through images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, I posit that the Western conflation of holiness with whiteness is a primary means through which whiteness retains hegemony. I argue that Renaissance painting has had a pivotal role in privileging the white body through its hyper-whitening of both Jesus and Mary. Both figures emerge as improbable ideals of male and female whiteness, demonstrating the anxiety around the intersection of race, gender and religion. I am primarily interested in Mary and how the canon of Western art has didactically laid out the terms of her representation as a means of controlling the female body, dependant on the disavowal and whitening of her body. The privileging of religious Renaissance art results in the continued infection of the construction and reception of the Virgin's image as an ideal figure of feminine whiteness. As such, I analyze the lasting effects of the whitening of her image in the controversy surrounding the display of Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary (1996) at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, as well as her representation in Hail Mary (1985) and The Passion of the Christ (2004). These readings attempt to draw out the specious nature of the Manichean dualism of black and white, aiming to help in the creation of a space for alternative readings of race through the eyes of hegemonic society.

No description available.