Finding the Power in Our Queerness and Rebellion in Our Love: Neville studies and creates queer Catholic art - a podcast by Avery Smith

Amy Neville (he, she, or they pronouns) is a 21-year-old Australian art historian & artist whose work celebrates being both Catholic & queer. In this episode, Avery and Neville discuss Neville's life and how they've learned to stand up for themself and other queer persons; the way women & queer artists have used textile arts over the years; and Europe’s Renaissance Period, focusing on queer artists who navigated adhering to & rebelling against the Catholic Church's rules for art in that period.

For an episode transcript and more info about this show, visit blessedarethebinarybreakers.com/podcast.

Find Neville on instagram @krem.caramel; check out their work at amyneville.art.

Talking Points:

(0:00 - 4:51) A reminder to Christians to confront antisemitism in Holy Week - see here for Amy-Jill Levine's article

(4:52 - 13:43) Discovering queerness while in Catholic high school - finding resources, standing up against a teacher's homophobia

(13:44 - 18:04) Meeting confident queer persons at university; coming out as genderfluid, going by last name Neville

(18:05 - 21:37) Creating art about being queer and Catholic; push-back from fellow queer folks for being Catholic

(21:38 - 29:22) Finding fellow queer persons of faith; the joy of community; Neville's graduate art exegesis "Divine Rebellion"

(29:23 - 37:08) Some textile arts history: suffragettes & feminists reclaiming it; queer persons expanding it - "the perfect medium" for underrepresented and undervalued groups

(37:09 - 43:32) Europe's Renaissance Period: the Catholic Church's power over the art scene; Caravaggio's role in rules censoring what could be depicted

(43:33 - 44:30) Resisting pinning down dead artists' sexualities with labels they didn't have

(44:31 - 48:24) Da Vinci's revolutionary art; sympathy for Judas

(48:25 - 55:26) Michelangelo's struggle with religion - not because of queerness, but because of his love of science; rebellion in his Sistine Chapel masterpiece

(55:27 - end) wrapping up - "find the power in your queerness and the rebellion in your love"; a future ep will continue Neville's tour of Renaissance art

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Blessed Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows, such as Magnified Pod, at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. "August" and "Mod 5" by Jeremy SH Griffith are also used in this episode.

Further episodes of Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Further podcasts by Avery Smith

Website of Avery Smith