The Annunciation - Gabriel and Mary. JESUS MAFA Click to enter image viewer Use the Save buttons below to save any of the available image sizes to your computer.
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Title:The Annunciation - Gabriel and Mary
Notes:JESUS MAFA is a response to the New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings.

In this scene, we see a startled and wary young Mary cooking as she is approached by the angel Gabriel. He opens his arms in a non-threatening gesture as he comes to announce the birth of Jesus. While Mary is portrayed in a very gentle, meek, and mild light in most paintings, we know more from the story told in Luke 1 and all its allusions. The warrior angel Gabriel is coming to herald a new way of life where the establishment and world order is overturned. And we know from Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46b-55) that she is also crying out in a song of revolution even as she accepts her role as Jesus’ mother.

Date:1973
Artist:JESUS MAFA
Country:Cameroon
Scripture:Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:46b-55
Person as Subject:Mary, the mother of Jesus (Biblical figure)
Lectionary links:BAdvt04
BDiv
AAdvt03
CAdvt04
General Subject:Annunciation to Mary
Culture: African
Culture: Black
Library of Congress Subject:Christian art and symbolism -- Cameroon
Permalink: https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48278
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Copyright Source:http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact)
Copyright Permission:For non-commercial uses, include with the image the Attribution statement below. Variations of the statement are fine as long as the elements in the Attribution statement are included. For other uses contact Éditions de l’Emmanuel, https://www.editions-emmanuel.com/contact/.
Attribution:JESUS MAFA. The Annunciation - Gabriel and Mary, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48278 [retrieved March 26, 2025]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
Record Number:48278 Last Updated: 2022-05-23 05:22:50 Record Created: 2006-12-15 00:00:00
Institution:Vanderbilt University Collection: Art in the Christian Tradition