LIKE A PRAYER

About Whores&  Saints

by Gabriel Colombo

The most complete woman transits between the roles of mother, whore, saint, worker and also makes art in bed

They have to pray a lot to survive, it's not easy to stand. Madonna reminds me of something Henry Miller wrote: "I have no respect for the artist, however great he may be, who does not put his art into practice in his life. I believe that morality and aesthetics are but one and the same thing". If the genius & villainous author of that sentence had met Madonna, he would obviously have given her a standing ovation (and, of course, tried to fuck her). Because she has that artistic truth, that total connection between word and action. And from that comes her power and the magnitude of her influence on the world. She is a woman who inspires SEND. And that's why she has done more for women than most bra-burning feminists. Because speeches can inspire, but real change only comes from actions, from practical examples, from people standing up and doing it.

In the 1980s, a time when women thought they had to give up their femininity and sexual power in favour of their newly attained power in the job market, Madonna made herself a sex object and proved that she could be sexy, intelligent and 
powerful. Object and subject at the same time. An epistemological subversion with lots of flash and choreography.

At a time when the idea of motherhood was still associated with the idea of marriage and family, Madonna decided she wanted to be a mother and didn't wait for Prince Charming - she got pregnant by the personal trainer she was having an affair with at the time, ending the affair shortly afterwards. Then she decided to have a family, married director Guy Ritchie and played the role of the ideal wife, the conservative mother who doesn't allow her children to watch TV. After a few years, already separated, she took on the handsome young Jesus Luz, regardless of the prevailing machismo that still sees women as contradictory to much younger men.

Patti Smith used to say: "contradiction is the clearest path to truth". Our Lady is free and wise because she allows herself to live all her archetypes - that of the saint, the whore, the mother, the madwoman - however contradictory they may seem. For me, this is the best definition of freedom. And it is then that this whole aesthetic explosion takes on existential relevance.

Never forget the lesson of the muse (a lesson I have always followed to the letter): express yourself. Without fear. Because, as Lady Gaga (one of the many artists who have had the road opened up by Madonna) said, 'Shame is an obsolete concept and apologising is an injustice to any performance'. The rest is already mapped out.

About the Author:

Gabriel Colombo is an International Journalist