Mary (the return)

Uppsala is more than the hometown of Peter Boivie, God of Voice and Sex; it once was the capital of Sweden. It also was the place where the pagan Swedes fought not so much christianity, but the Roman church and its rules, the hardest. A cathedral was built right there to impress the shit out of the naked pan-worshippers. So they have this big-ass cathedral and a castle where the King lived. Obviously, the king's name is Gustav, and naturally, one day he dies, and it is decided (i think he decreed it) that he is to be buried in the cathedral. Nothing strange about that, cathedrals are graveyards with very fancy roofs, but Gustav claimed the chapel that was dedicated to Mary. The weirdest bit is, they gave it to him. Good to be the king, even when you're dead you get the best spot in church. Why not hang him on the cross while you're at it?

A couple of years ago, some church officials in Uppsala asked artists to make a piece for the church. One of these artists, Anders Widoff, proposed to let Mary return after a long absence to the church the king threw her out of.



In his words: "In my interpretation, Mary is a mature woman of around 45. Her dress exhibits clear traits of our own times. In a sense she comes in disguise; at another level she has assumed the form of all women and every age. She comes (returns) to the church as one visitor among others; but also as a witness. Through her eyes and in her vicinity, the church seems to appear in a different light."