Religion and Underwear

• Courtesy the artist
• Michele Domingo, Drying I, 2007

Down through the history of Western art, dominated by religious imagery, there’s a long tradition of associating the highest things—God, especially—with the lowest. It’s an unsurprising theme, given that it’s Christ’s own. That’s the reason it’s such a great technique—it can cut both ways, pitting Christ-ness against church-ness without getting the artist in trouble. Lots of artists have relied on this loophole to save their necks.

That’s a little bit of what I’m getting from Seattle photographer Michele Domingo’s photographs of Catholic omnipresence in the Philippines, where her family’s from. Her pictures of a plastic-wrapped Jesus, a colorful calendar showing the holy family endorsing a judge, and a “family hallway” are not outright critiques, but each has dark undercurrents.

Then you come to her portraits of underwear and crosses, Drying I and Drying II. These feel different. Softer, more curious, almost timeless. The critique of religion feels both bigger and less direct: How does something so personal get so organized?