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Sleeping Mary
Michael Ayala
Ecuador
Mixing African and Indio ingredients, this set by a well-known Ecuadorian artist, is first of all a
tribute to life. It is a hymn to life in some of its most basic expressions:
blooming and overflowing bodies, satiated peace on sleeping faces and the
fundamental trust in life’s goodness that is given only to children. We find in
this nativity some of the characteristics of North American representations,
namely the innocent childlikeness and a new appreciation of gender roles. Mary
sleeps while Joseph watches over the baby. God has ventured to penetrate all layers of human reality. The sleeping Mary says it all.
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