PRIESTESS OF ISIS

The figure is a free and fantastic interpretation of this particular pagan priestly caste. These priestesses practiced sacred copulation in the East (but also in Greece and throughout the Roman Empire, where this cult was widespread) with the followers and adepts of the cult who brought special offerings to the temple.
Some sources perhaps suggest that the Magdalene, both before and after becoming a follower of the Nazarene, belonged to that priestly caste. But the Gospels only transmit to us her fame as a prostitute, and the apocrypha also that of Christ's carnal companion.
Like the Magdalene in some Christian interpretations, the cult of Isis also tends to exalt the divine in its feminine part, neglected instead in the Jewish cult.
As signs of priestly rank, the figure wears a completely imaginary golden tiara, whose design is taken from the decorated and gilded papier-mâché masks that I myself have been creating for many years. The pearls and the rich fabrics in brocade and gold on which the figure sits are a sign of decorum and feminine vanity. The background of night clouds represents the space of transcendence and infinity, to which all rituals, even orgiastic ones, aim.
Sandro Becucci