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SPANISH FACE OF THE WEEK

ART

‘They didn’t let me finish’: ‘Monkey Jesus’ artist

A year ago she became a global laughing stock after she destroyed a prized fresco of Christ. Twelve months on she’s launched her very own art exhibition. Meet the world's most infamous art restorer – Cecilia Gimenez - our Spanish Face of the Week.

'They didn't let me finish': 'Monkey Jesus' artist
Tourists from all around the world have flocked to the once-sleepy Aragonese village to catch a glimpse and have a giggle at Gimenez's "work of art". Photo: YouTube, Cesar Manso/AFP

In August 2012, residents of the small village of Borja in north-eastern Spain were shocked to find out that a "vandal" had destroyed a prized fresco in their local Sanctuary of Mercy Church.

The 19th century 'Ecce Homo' ('Behold the Man') depiction of Jesus with his crown of thorns had been disfigured and made into a monkey-like creature bearing no resemblance to the Christian saviour.

Before the village authorities had the chance to send out a nationwide appeal, up popped an 81-year-old woman who claimed responsibility for the artistic atrocity.

"They didn’t let me finish," Gimenez later told Spanish daily El País.

Before and after: is this the world's worst restoration job?  Photo Centro de Estudios Borjanos/AFP

What started off as a little touch-up job of the pensioner’s favourite representation of Jesus soon “got out of hand”, as Gimenez puts it.

A longstanding parishioner at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church, Giménez was concerned that parts of Elías García Martínez’s fresco were flaking off due to damp on the church walls.

"The priest knew all about it!" Giménez told national broadcaster Televisión Española.

"Everybody who went into the parish saw me painting it. I never did it behind closed doors."

News of the pensioner’s improvised restoration started spreading like wildfire across Spain and as soon as the international press and social media platforms got hold of the story, Gimenez’s "monkey Jesus" became a global phenomenon.

France’s Le Monde newspaper ran the story with the title 'HOLY SHIT – the restoration of a painting of Christ turns into a massacre' and The Daily Telegraph with 'Elderly woman destroys 19th-century fresco with DIY restoration'.

Less than a month after Gimenez’s botched restoration, an international art exhibition by collaborative art group Wallpeople was held in Barcelona in honour of her "masterpiece" .

EcceHomo fans prepared a montage of Gimenez’s "monkey face" on a number of renowned artworks, including Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe and Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss.

Even US comedy shows Saturday Night Live and The Conan O’Brien Show featured sketches in which they mocked the so-called Potato Jesus.

Faced with a barrage of international media attention, Spanish newspapers reported that Cecilia Gimenez suffered an anxiety attack.

"I couldn't understand why everyone was talking about me," she later told Spanish daily ABC.

"All I wanted to do was save the fresco."

Borja’s authorities had even considered taking legal action against her for what they initially deemed to be the ransacking of the village’s patrimony.

"Cecilia, come home! They want to put you in prison!" Giménez’s sister told her over the phone as soon as she heard the news.

But initial plans to restore the botched fresco were put on hold by the local parish and Borja’s authorities as soon as they realized the positive effect it was having on the village’s economy.

Tourists from all around the world have flocked to the once-sleepy Aragonese village to catch a glimpse and have a giggle at what has been popularly referred to as the worst art restoration project in history.

Entrance to the church costs €1 ($1.30) and all the money goes to the renovation of the building.

Sweets of the 'Ecce Mono' — or 'Behold the Monkey' as the revised artwork has been jokingly dubbed — have gone on sale in Japan.

A mask of the gruesome face was also one of the most popular costume masks at Halloween in the US.

More importantly, Gimenez has fully recovered from her panic attacks with the help and support of Borja's townspeople.

She’s been the honorary guest on a local TV station’s New Year’s programme; she’s designed the labels for local wine bottles and has sold some of her artwork on Ebay.

Her proudest moment yet came on Tuesday, when the 82-year-old showed off 28 of her paintings at an art exhibition in the village.

Gimenez claims she hasn't taken a single cent from her parish's "new" 'Ecce Homo' revenue.

"I've not wanted to profit from anything that's happened," she told Spanish daily ABC.

But the octogenarian artist is now fighting for her copyright privileges to be recognized  by the Sanctuary of Mercy Church so she can set up a foundation to help people with the degenerative illness that her son suffers from.

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ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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