Writhing

            This sculpture,  St. Teresa in Ecstasy was created by Bernini. It can be found in the Cornaro Chapel in Rome, Italy. On first glance, it seems that a supernatural moment has been captured with the lines drawn from the sky, the angel, and the expression on the woman’s face. There is lots of emotion as St. Teresa has been encountered something heavenly. Her posture of submission and yet enthrallment show that we are clearly intruding here upon a woman’s supernatural encounter. The majority of St.Teresa’s body is covered with drapery; yet her facial expression and body movement show us that clearly the importance does not lie on her body, but on the experience and raw emotion. It is as if God has entered into her earthly body.

            My photo was taken to show the emotional response we get so often from our bodies. I will admit I am partial to the female body, being a female. But I think that there is a lot of importance in our 2012 culture for a female’s body to be a certain way. While this may be the case, our bodies are temples and therefore carry much more weight than just an appearance. This photo shows the emotion being exhaled. It looks like she is a slave to her body and to what others determine her body to be worth.  I like the comparison of this and St. Teresa in Ecstasy because I think it shows the importance of emotions in our body and how bad things can quickly get when bottle it all in.