Kim Kardashian stunned as Jesus, the Virgin Mary, a Satanic priestess, a trio of nuns, Joan of Arc and a Hindu goddess in a one-night art exhibit held in Brooklyn last week.
“The Passion of Kim Kardashian” opened at Palisades 906 in Bushwick, and featured organ music, incense and a display of prayer candles covered in the images. It’s already managed to offend at least four religious leaders, reports the New York Daily News.
The artist behind it — Hannah Kunkle — is enjoying the spectacle and says she’s loving the haters.
Here are a few of the images, courtesy of Twitter:
“@ANIMALNewYork:The Passion Of KimK artist: “I know I shouldn’t love her, but I do love her.” http://t.co/8vYxUWaLQI pic.twitter.com/h8v3gE5GV8”
— Joshua Lindo (@SuperDuperLindo) June 17, 2014
L’obsession maladive d’une artiste pour @KimKardashian http://t.co/66IIYPVqdL pic.twitter.com/oRZymq1Xqx
— Fraisfrais (@fraimentfrais) June 18, 2014
Hannah Kunkle’s “The Passion of Kim Kardashian” Art Show Blesses Brooklyn | http://t.co/7zghhvjZHO | #art #design pic.twitter.com/wGwND82xC6
— Gi Fulvio (@Gi_Fulvio) June 17, 2014
“It’s deplorable,” Pastor Reggie Stutzman, of Real Life Church in the Bronx, told the Daily News. “It’s sacrilegious, irrelevant, and disrespectful. . . It’s idol worship.”
“Leave Kim and Jesus separate,” he added.
Dr. Uma Mysorekar, of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, told the Daily News the images are distasteful. “They are images for worship, not for display or to be used to just bring one’s fame up.”
Kunkle, 23, told the Daily News she thought the religious leaders’ outrage was “pretty hilarious.”
“I’m sorry if that offends them, but that’s really not my purpose,” she said. “It’s art. It’s supposed to be wild and, not offensive, but prying.”
She also explained to VICE earlier this year that Kim Kardashian is God:
She’s crazy bodacious and has the nose job of an angel. I don’t know if she’s omniscient, but no one can deny she’s not omnipresent. Kim floats above us all, even the deniers and the haters. We have accepted her into our lives via television screens, memes, and Instagram feeds. If Jay Z is the father and Yeezus is the son, then she is the ever-present holy ghost of pop culture.
Although she’s not religious, Kunkle said she’s “strangely fascinated” by Kardashian, and wanted to create religious idols that apply to her, because she finds religious idols beautiful. “I think she is almost a patron saint of pop culture,” she said.
Father Michael Perry, of Our Lady of Refuge Church, told the Daily News the show is “dumb and stupid,” and Kardashian “has no impact on my life at all.” But he added: “They are gorgeous photos. They are well thought out.”
Kunkle concurs with Perry’s last point. “Those images are so powerful — it gives power to the idea of worshiping her,” she said.
But John Gribowich, 35, a Brooklyn seminarian, said the images confused him. “I don’t know what the intention is by the artist,” he told the Daily News. “Here she is as portraying Christ, here she is portraying the Blessed Mother, and then there’s a demonic image of her. I don’t know how you can be all of those things. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I think there is a cohesiveness to the art,” he added. “But I don’t walk away thinking Kim Kardashian is a goddess.”
Kim Kardashian has not commented on the images, but she did compare herself to the Virgin Mary a few years ago.
Check out the rest of the images here.