imago dei

Crucially and rather sensibly as the world collectively raged against symbols of racism, colonialism and enslavement, one activist suggested that the biggest sacred cow to tip and topple would be the relentlessly perpetuated image of the Jesus as a white European.
Whilst we’ve encountered countless depictions of artistic license dressed in anachronism, the trope of Jesus as white and thus set apart from his peers takes a more deliberative tact and culminates with a ubiquitous cameo by Warner Elias Sallman (*1892 – †1968), whom as recently as 1994 was regaled with predictions that he was likely to be chosen as the best-known artist of the century. His devotional piece, The Head of Christ, has been reproduced more than half a billion times and is for many the way, consciously or not, the way to visualise Jesus. Despite being mass-produced and from pulp traditions, The Head of Christ is associated with miraculous healing and appearances.