Untitled (Ink Prayer)

Marshall Blevins

Interview by L. Valena

Can you describe to me what you responded to?

It was something that, when I opened it, I was like Oh boy, because it was so out of the realm of stuff that I even deal with or think about. It was like a barbie, surrounded by flashy things. Flashy, cheap-looking decorative stuff.

What was your first reaction to it?

Well, my first reaction was, What am I even going to do with this? I guess the first thing that I could really bring it to, to make it relatable to me, was mardi gras, which is a big thing down here in Louisiana. There's a lot of plastic beads, and floats, and all that kind of kitschy stuff. Mardi gras and Catholicism are really big down here.  Mardi gras is a church holiday, and Mary is a big thing in Cajun country. I follow a couple of artists that really study her, and are influential in my own studies. So I saw that, and decided I would try to tie all of this together.

What happened next?

I chewed on it, and thought about it for awhile. I did a couple sketches, and did one or two takes before I did the one that I sent over.

Tell me about this piece.

It's of Mary, and it has snakes and mardi gras beads on it. I remember that there was motion, or light in the photograph, and I wanted to carry that motion into the drawing that I made. I thought a lot about what I was responding to, and bringing it over to my own processing system. Putting it out in the way that I could best interpret it. The image that I responded to had so much going on- it was so busy and bright. I wanted to assault the viewer in the same way that I felt assaulted by the colors and everything I was seeing in the image that I responded to.

The piece you responded to is kind of glitzy and sexual, and I think it's so interesting that you brought it to this saint place. Can you say more about that?

I sort of freaked out when I read about Saint Kim. It's so weird that I kind of brought it back to that place.

It's pretty cool, isn't it?

That freaked me out- it's too weird.

It's wild that you picked up on that, somehow. That sort of stuff happens a lot through this process- I don't know how, but it's really cool. Tell me more about mardi gras, and your experience with it.

I live out in Cajun country, and they do a Cajun mardi gras, which I've been to a couple times. It goes back to France, and mardi gras goes back to Greece or Rome. The Cajuns came from France, and they brought the tradition with them. They celebrate, and they eat and drink, right before Lent. And we love drinking down here, so you get together with all of your friends. The first time I came down, I came down from Kentucky, and we went to a traditional party at a place called Church Point. There were people on the back of boats at like seven in the morning and we could see that they were drinking beer, and it was like: holy cow- Y'all aren't playing. You're also running around, and chasing chickens, and at the end of the day you make gumbo with the chickens that you caught. Then there's New Orleans Mardi Gras, which starts with the Joan of Arc parade in January, and then there's parades every weekend until Mardi Gras.

It's really wild to think about these crazy parties- with all the booze, and titty necklaces and rowdiness, in the context of religion.

I like that you picked up on that, because a lot of stuff that they throw is within the image that I responded to- it's cheap and disposable. My parents caught a toilet plunger that was decorated last year, and they keep that stuff for some reason.

They become like a precious icon, or something.

They have a whole shelf of all the stuff that they've got.

Tell me about the arrows in this image.

That was part of the movement- there was movement in the photo, and I was trying to figure out how to put it into what I was working with. But also the sacred heart that Mary has is sometimes pierced with arrows, and that's something that makes its way into my work a lot.

Can you talk some more about Mary, and about your feelings about her?

There's at least one artist who I follow, who is a writer, and is reviving the Louisiana French language in her own way. She's kind of taking a feminist look at how things are done in Louisiana, and she started photographing all of the old Mary statues in Louisiana. I'm coming at it from her respect for it. She would probably disagree with some of the things I'm about to say, but Mary is kind of a universal figure within a lot of religions. I was really into the Pentacostal religion when I was in Kentucky. And then I got really interested in Voodoo when I moved to Louisiana. And now I'm going through some family stuff, and getting into the Methodist church. In going through all of these religions, and there's so much in between those jumps, there's always a mother/Mary figure. She keeps popping up. She isn't even mentioned in the bible that much. I'm trying to figure out how all these religions are different, and how they're all the same, and where I fit into everything. She's like the anchor.

She's your anchor in this progression.

Right.

Also, can we talk about snakes? Snakes are so weird.

Dude. We found two super poisonous snakes on our walk recently- I don't know if it's just been so cold that they're like, frozen? That's so weird- you're about to step on a copperhead and it just doesn't move.

That happened to me when I was growing up, too! We'd have these enormous water snakes, that would essentially just pass out on the lawn. And what do you do in that instance? You have to move it, but what if it comes back to life while you're moving it? 

Do you have any advice for someone else doing this project?

It's good to just tell your own story, and not worry about what other people are going to think about it. You just have to do it your own way.

Call Number: C17VA | C22VA.bleUnti

Church Goin Mule, or Marshall Blevins, is a southern artist who was born and raised across the south, her kinfolk came from the mountains, though she lives in the flatland swamp of Louisiana now. You can find her online at churchgoinmule.com