“Effeminate”, “nothing to do with Holy Week” or “sectarian”. These are just some of the adjectives that the poster announcing this year’s Holy Week in Seville has received, an image of a very young resurrected Christ covered slightly from the waist down by local painter Salustiano García.
The image has generated tremendous controversy, in which few have resisted giving their opinion. The last one to speak out was the writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte, who usually speaks out on current issues by publishing them on X (formerly Twitter).
“My friends from Seville tell me that they are going to walk around the city seven times with a mantilla and comb behind this Christ,” writes the writer, who hints at his discontent with the work, which he does not find the same meaning as the author. , which wanted to reflect “the bright part of Holy Week.”
Organizations and some journalists have also flatly rejected the work that will illustrate Holy Week 2024. “No. No. No. Jesus is strong, muscular, virile. He does not have the face of a girl and his wounds are large and deep. They are not pickets of pin. I’m sure He didn’t like it. Neither do I,” responds the Catholic journalist and writer, Isabel Álvarez de la Peza.
However, the artist defends the “respect and love” that he exudes. “It is neither revolutionary nor dirty,” he emphasizes in an interview in Efe.
The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz (PP), has also supported the author, ensuring that he “likes” the poster. “He is different, brave, risky,” he says. “All the Holy Week posters cannot be the same or the same every year,” he settles in the face of criticism from some sectors.