Illuminating Post-Modernism: Contemporary Catholic Art in North America

Jessica Ziakin-Cook, a doctoral candidate in Art History and Visual Studies at UVic and CSRS Associate Fellow, will present "Illuminating Post-Modernism: Contemporary Catholic Art in North America." Her research explores the connections between Christianity and art in the late modern period.

This presentation will delve into how Catholic Social Teaching influenced visual art production in North America during the 20th century. Ziakin-Cook will examine discourse and iconography to illustrate how Vatican II statements and reforms led to a rise in spiritual concerns within public scholarship on the arts.

The St. John's Bible (1998-2013), a 21st-century illuminated manuscript, serves as a key example. It features a blend of styles, including icons, botanical drawings, and abstract painting, which its patrons described as a "medieval solution to a postmodern problem."