Violette Waverly Terjanian

Ongoing (2026)​​​

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Christina the Astonishing was a twelfth-century mystic. After perishing from an excess of internal contemplation in 1182, she was miraculously resurrected and began to behave in astonishing ways. She fled to remote places, endured self-inflicted torture, survived for weeks in the wilderness, sang supernatural melodies, foretold deaths and famines, and was relentlessly chased and captured by her friends and family.

 

This ongoing series of works on paper illustrates these peculiar events as they are chronicled in The Life of Christina the Astonishing by Thomas of Cantimpré (1180–1270). Oscillating between self-portraiture and depictions of imagined realms and realities, the works function as a contemporary reenactment of Christina's mysticism. Where do we go to flee the stench of human sin?  Do we suffer to save those around us? What miracles can we perform with our bodies?