Adelina Suvagau
“Mary Magdalene in conversation with Lilian Broca” is a documentary which features the mosaic work of Lilian Broca as she creates a new mosaic series on the figure of Mary Magdalene who is acting as her muse in the studio. In this documentary we examine the relationship an artist develops with her subject. From this perspective Mary Magdalene is seen as both a muse inhabiting her studio and an intellectual companion. The film takes the form of a revelatory dialogue between the two women connecting over the millennia. The documentary illuminates that there are aspects of the female presence in the institution of the Church which have not been resolved despite thousands of years of advancement, debate and discrimination for women in history. Mary Magdalene is a much maligned and marginalized biblical figure for whom there are many conflicting narratives. She is characterized as a repentant prostitute, a confident of Jesus and potentially even his rightful inheritor of the Church. Each version imparts an underlying attitude toward women in the Church. Broca illuminates all of these through the symbolism she incorporates into the 7 monumental panels which comprise this powerful series. Broca utilizes many sources for her visual investigation into the legacy of Mary Magdalene and each one illuminates the complicated traditions from which this figure arises: Illuminated Manuscripts, the Gnostic Gospels and the much-debated pages of the Bible. It is from these sources that our conflict-ridden figure enables current feminists and religious leaders to debate the significance of Mary Magdalene and her important placement in Church history.
2022