In the Philippines, we dress saints like beauty queens and worship beauty queens like saints.
Made this illustration to sort of distill an academic paper that's been marinating in my mind for a while. I thought of how crowning images of female saints, a common thing in Roman Catholic Philippines, doesn't seem too far away from the modern spectacle of the beauty pageant. While the latter isn't quite as sacred as the former, both do involve crowning dolls with jewels, garbing them in gowns, and bestowing on them distinct titles - all to the awe of the masses.
Made this illustration to sort of distill an academic paper that's been marinating in my mind for a while. I thought of how crowning images of female saints, a common thing in Roman Catholic Philippines, doesn't seem too far away from the modern spectacle of the beauty pageant. While the latter isn't quite as sacred as the former, both do involve crowning dolls with jewels, garbing them in gowns, and bestowing on them distinct titles - all to the awe of the masses.
