Pussydonna: Putang Ina Mo
2020
Ceramic, Gesso, Gold Leaf,
18" x 16" x 18"
In Pussydonna: Putang Ina Mo, I subvert Catholic iconography by queering the traditional image of the Sedes Sapientiae—the Madonna as the “Seat of Wisdom,” serving as a throne for the Christ Child. Instead, I reimagine her as an indigenous goddess of fecundity, no longer passive, but commanding and unapologetically powerful.
The title itself—Putang Ina Mo, a Filipino curse meaning “Your mother is a whore”—pushes against the reverence and restraint usually bound to Marian imagery. In my version, the Christ Child is dwarfed and nearly erased in significance, holding his limp banana—a symbol of diminished authority. The Madonna dominates the scene, dressed in blood-red robes and a gold-leafed cape shaped like a labia—an embodiment of both sexuality and divine authority and no longer the submissive vessel but a bold assertion of the sacredness of the body.
Through this inversion, I wrestle with the colonial imposition of Catholicism and reclaim a vision of the divine that honors feminine power, sexuality, and indigenous cosmologies.