ABSTRACT
The bronze statue of a pregnant woman, executed by Damien Hirst, the socalled ‘prophet of Britart’,1 and leading figure of the YBA (Young British Artists) conceptual art movement, dominated the sight of the viewer entering the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts in London in August 2006. The title at the feet of the statue read ‘The Virgin Birth’. The body was divided into two. The right-hand side showed a naked female pregnant body. The left-hand side revealed what lay under the skin: the skull of the woman, the mammary gland (covered by the nipples) as well as a vertical cross-section of the womb allowing a view of the baby inside. At the level of the thigh, the body was stripped of its flesh and the muscles were exposed. Most probably the artist aimed at shocking the viewer and he has successfully done so.2 One question the viewer would ask himself is whether the person depicted was to be identified with Mary. Its title suggests that this was, indeed, a modern reading of the Virgin birth that showed a deconstructed Virgin of startling physicality. Was this phenomenon a reflection of society’s need to strip all mystery of its sanctity?
