Magdalene Befriending Death

© Sue Ellen Parkinson, 2021

Original – SOLD

Acrylic on Canvas

Print - 13” x 19” • $55

Throughout the ages Magdalene is depicted wearing red, often holding an alabaster jar, sometimes holding a red egg, or reading a book. Another one of Magdalene’s most prevalent identifying symbols is a “skull.” I’ve included the skull in several of my paintings of her, but always given it a peripheral position—probably because of my own discomfort with death. In this one, I wanted to show her as an older woman, directly honoring this aspect of Life as a process of transformation—taking it out of the realm of fear. It’s title is, "Magdalene Befriending Death.”