Javier Viver defines himself as an imaginer; he is a Spanish sacred artist who is mainly dedicated to sculpture and photography. He is the author of works such as the Bella Pastora of the Iesu Communio community and the Mother of Hope. But perhaps his best-known work is the Our Lady of Hakuna. Aleteia met with him to talk about the image, sacred art and devotion to Mary.
The first tabernacle
After lending his studio to Hakuna Group (a music-centered Catholic group of Spanish origin) for a few years, Fr. Jose Pedro Manglano — the group’s founder — gave him a very special commission. “He asked me to make an image of Mary that would represent the charism of the group. He told me, specifically, that it had to represent that very important aspect of living on our knees and embracing the Eucharist.”
The starting point was a painting by another artist in which Mary was embracing a large host.
That's when I came up with the idea of doing a pregnant Mary; and of course, it was so natural for the Virgin to embrace her belly and, therefore, the fruit of her womb. That was very good because Mary was the living Tabernacle, the first tabernacle, the Eucharistic woman.
By embracing her womb, Javier explains, she embraces Jesus. The idea immediately caught on and went from being a small mock-up proposal to a definitive work.
In that process, my idea was to do something that would connect in a very popular way. That's why there was the aspect of motherhood, that gesture, the face of the Virgin, which had to be of a very simple woman, who is recollected in deep prayer, considering who it is that inhabits her body.
In making it, he sought to create a very human image of a very special time for a mother: pregnancy. This allowed him to meditate on this mystery, which is so important for our faith.
Mothers can understand it because they have experienced it; I can imagine that relationship because of the relationship I have with my mother. I always say to my mother, “Do you have telepathy, or what's up with you?” Because she only needs to see my eyes to know what’s going on with me. These kinds of hunches start in pregnancy, in that moment of such an intense relationship between mother and child.
When the piece finally came out, it inspired a great popular devotion that began to spread, first to Europe, and then primarily to Latin America, China, and the United States.
Today, in every place where there is a Hakuna-organized holy hour, there’s a copy of this image of Mary. However, it’s not exclusive to the group. Being such a relatable image, many people both inside and outside the group began to look for the image to have it at home.
Domestic Church
The studio has received so many testimonies that Javier Viver has begun to share them on his website. When people buy the image for their home, they “gather around it and are inspired to pray, and people have many experiences that they tell us about. We have letters and letters.”
However, Viver clarifies something that for him is fundamental:
In the end it has nothing to do with the sculpture, with the figure, but with the presence of Mary. When you put her at the center of your home, then Mary works.
I do my part, which is a small seed, and the Virgin Mary comes out of the studio and already has a life of her own. She establishes a direct relationship with all those who come to contemplate her or to pray.
The studio even receives paintings and sculptures that people create of Our Lady of Hakuna as a way of appropriating the image and nourishing their devotion.
“I owe my artistic vocation to the Virgin Mary.”
When asked what making this image of Mary meant in his personal relationship with her, Javier begins by explaining that, if it weren't for her, he wouldn't be an artist.
She got me involved in dedicating myself to art, and later, in dedicating myself to making sculptures for her and dedicating myself to sacred art. But also on a spiritual level, I owe my spiritual vocation to the Virgin Mary.
From a very early age he understood that his vocation was closely linked to talking about the Virgin Mary and popular devotion through the art of images. Since then, every time he has to sculpt her, it’s “a challenge and a very special moment.”
I start making the sculpture with models, but there’s a certain moment when the sculpture goes from being a portrait of that model to being the Virgin and becomes an icon. And you notice it in the studio itself! Suddenly you realize that the Virgin Mary is present through that sacramental, which is the representation of an image, but she’s already there.
Javier Viver's images are very approachable and linked to humanity; however, they also have a certain remoteness or distance with which the author seeks to manifest the supernatural.
That tug of war between a very great relatableness that allows you to say, “She’s like me, she has a relationship with me,” helps you to empathize; and the distance (makes you say), “but at the same time, there’s something very supernatural about her that surpasses me and in which I can take refuge, to ask for her protection, her help.”
We need our senses to pray
As a creator of sacred art, Viver is convinced that images are decisive in our life of faith.
It's not just a matter of aesthetics or adornment and decoration; it's part of what we believe. Christians mainly celebrate the Incarnation; that is, the most invisible becomes visible and human, close to us. Therefore, for us, everything human is the natural way to encounter God, the supernatural. And this, concretely, has a very clear expression in the images that have been produced within the Church.
Javier explains that, when the first Christians began to represent the divine through images, “everything takes an absolute turn and creates a new reality for us, which is that closeness that images allow us.”
“We need the senses to pray, to love God.”
And he concludes:
For us, it’s the natural way to pray. And in the Church, from minute zero the artistic manifestation appeared as a genuine form of prayer. The first Christians, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, gather and sing psalms; and they express it through music, words, poetry, through images and architecture. We need the senses to pray, to love God.
Javier Viver's works can be purchased on his website or through links available on his social networks (both are in Spanish, but automatic translation is available through the most popular browsers).
