Image and religion. An open debate
The Western concept of religion has been constructed mainly on the basis of religions of the book (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). These religions share, among other things, their foundation on a sacred text which is supposed to be a transcription of the divine word, in some cases revealed through the figure of a prophet.
The importance attributed in the West to sacred books and the written word and the countless hermeneutic debates on limits in the interpretation of holy scriptures have made us downplay, however, the decisive role played by images and visuality in any form of religious experience — even within religions of the book.
Every religion determines what we in anthropology call a certain visuality regime. The concept of visuality regime refers to the cultural and social parameters that determine what can be seen and represented and how. They also determine the implications of such acts of vision.
We accordingly find certain religions that accept (and even promote) iconographic representations of the sacred. Others ban them or subject them to conditions. The former religions are usually described as iconophilic (or idolatrous, although the term is often used disparagingly), whereas the latter are known as iconoclastic. It should be pointed out, however, that the boundaries between some of the former and latter are often blurred. Let’s go back to the example of religions of the book: some branches of Christianity ban representations of God or the holy spirit, despite demonstrating, by contrast, great visual creativity when it comes to representations of saints and martyrs. According to some scholars, Islam does not ban representations of the Prophet, only “adulation” of his image. On the other hand, we also find representations of the sacred in very diverse sacred practices, from aboriginal Australian religions to sacred Amazonian practices, not to mention “African art”. Some of these representations follow figurative aesthetic patterns; others are abstract, to our eyes at least.
What turns out to be even more interesting when exploring intersections between visual and religious anthropology is determining not just how the divinity is represented (if it is), but also the relationship between the divinity’s representation and the entity which the image presumably represents. And here we come across the main paradox of religious imagery: religious images are religious not just because they represent the divine but also because in one way or another they participate in or are identified with the being that is represented (at least in the context of rituals). If there is any sense in the act of worshipping images it is due to the relationship of continuity or immediacy between the image and what it represents. That enables us to understand how religious images are endowed with a strong subjectivity and often treated not as items but as quasi-persons. And also how so much effort has been taken to destroy them.
The act of “seeing” and being seen is also of great importance in the realm of religion. It is usual to hear stories of visions and apparitions. God is often represented as an eye, while witches and warlocks are often said to have “double vision”. Shamans can see inside the world of dreams and ancestors and oracles are often individuals who can see “beyond” (hence their frequent depiction as blind in ancient Greece). Looking, in the realm of religion, means being in contact with the divine, changing ordinary vision in one way or another.
The realm of visuality and images within religion is in full transformation. New forms of visual culture are now being added to the ancient practices maintained (such as the construction of altars or use of pictures as charms against the evil eye). Many believers are using technologies to interact with one another and the beyond. Rituals are being filmed and often shared through social networks. New online rituals have appeared. It is hardly far fetched to believe we will soon be able to attend religious rituals through augmented-reality glasses.
There is therefore an urgent need to rethink religion by studying images and vice versa — to rethink the images and relationships we maintain with the visual based on religious experiences.
We will take a good look at these issues in the following sections, starting with two specific cases: the use of images in Hinduism and Afro-American religions.
THE CASE OF THE HINDU RELIGION
The eternal religion (Sanathana Dharma), as many of its followers call it, is one of the names that Hinduism is known by. Even so, Hinduism was originally not much more than a fragmented set of beliefs and practices created over centuries of cultural exchanges between various peoples in the Indian subcontinent. It was from the 19th century onwards — and with the British colonial occupation — that these sacred practices came to be grouped under the name of Hinduism, alluding to the non-Abrahamic religions found beyond the Indus river (not to mention Buddhism and Jainism). For all their diversity, every Hindu tradition acknowledges a common origin in the sacred texts known as the Veda, a term meaning ‘knowledge’, revealed by the gods to humanity in the form of teachings.
From the Hindu perspective, human beings live in an illusion called maya which prevents us from seeing reality. Our senses are deceived by the material world. In fact, the word itself, veda, comes from an Indo-European term relating to the verb to see, so it establishes a nexus between the senses and the capacity to discover the absolute truth personified in the figure of God. Which is why visuality and looking in Hinduism are sacred and enable us to understand what the Hindu visuality regime is which surrounds the worship of religious images.
Unlike other religions, Hinduism is iconophilic (that is, images play a central role in it). The creative capacity for interpreting sacred texts and God with images is potentially inexhaustible. It is true that there are clear iconographic models which establish how the gods Shiva, Ganesha or one of the numerous forms of Vishnu are mean to be represented. The boundaries of these conventions are naturally fluid. From representations through sculptures, not to mention photographs and films, and even images made through new technologies, the images of the Hindu gods are multi-faceted, changing and ubiquitous. So, Hindu images inhabit domestic spaces, temples and even internet spaces without losing their capacity to be a truthful and reliable vehicle for bringing us over to the deity.
A key concept in understanding why representations of the divinities are so popular in this religion is that of darshan. Darshan is translated literally as ‘vision’. It refers to the contemplation of something sacred, whether a sculpture, object or place considered sacred, or a venerated person. Of course, the act of darshan refers above all to the contemplation of an idol, that is, an image of god. It is, in the strictest sense, a crossed exchange of looks between the devoted and god as an image. Both need to have the intention of looking at each other for this encounter to occur. This intentional component is essential: the sculptures are therefore often explained as a god's desire to materialise in a sculpture that can be comprehended by the human mind. Darshan, in short, is a blessing conveyed through the eyes.
As we said before, Hinduism today is practised all around the world. In Barcelona, for example, the ritual of Ratha Yatra, one of the main Hindu public rituals held in honour of Mr Jagannath (Krishna’s avatar), is held, organised by ISKCON Barcelona. The “original” ritual is performed in Odisha, India, and involves a procession of carriages bearing three sculptures: one of Jagannath and one for each of his brothers, Balabhadra and Subhadra. This original function of the procession was to bring darshan to people who had no access to the temple. Much like Catholic processions, the Ratha Yatra seeks to impress all those witnessing it through its profuse decorations of carriages, music and everything surrounding the sacred sculptures. Many of its witnesses take part voluntarily, often spreading their experiences through mobile phones to capture this religious ritual and share it through real-time streaming with friends and family living in other parts of the world. Given Barcelona’s cultural diversity, this gathering may seem a minor event or even a rarity, but for practising Hindus it is a time of blessing and true celebration of something said to require mere visual witnessing for participants to be able to “interweave” their destinies with Krishna for the rest of their lives. The event is an example of how the “eternal religion” has been able to adapt itself successfully to modernity and migratory contexts inside and outside India. We can affirm that Hinduism today has succeeded in breaking down physical and technological boundaries, thanks to which the Hindu visuality regime has become important in contemporary visual culture.
THE CASE OF AFRO-AMERICAN RELIGIONS
The term Afro-American religions refers to a series of sacred practices that emerged in Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of an encounter (and a traumatic one, it should be noted) between several cultural currents: the rituals of the autochthonous, indigenous peoples, the religions originating from Africa brought over by enslaved people, and Catholicism. Such influences have been joined by others, such as spiritism, orientalism and several types of occultism. These religions include Santería, Umbanda, Voodoo, Dominican and Puerto Rican spiritism and the cult of María Lionza (Venezuela).
One of the main features of these cults without doubt is the importance of images and visions as a means of making contact with divinities. Some authors suggest that the pre-eminence of images is due, at least in part, to the very features of the evangelising process. The so-called New World was a melting pot of individuals hailing from very diverse cultural backgrounds and who accordingly spoke different languages. In view of the difficulty of mutual understanding through words, people would have used images to build up a common symbolic base.
These religions, in any case, are based on a strong visual creativity (Canals, 2017). Images of divinities are reinvented time and time again. Altars are practically artistic expressions made with colours, figures and offerings of every kind. Artists and crafts people connected to the cult make works of art about divinities. There are blogs, web pages and an enormous number of social network accounts where you can find images of spirits making up spiritual pantheons.
Such visual creativity can prove surprising to Western eyes. We tend to think that a divine image is more ”authentic” the more it resembles an “original” model. What we are seeing from these cults is that, while there are generic representative patterns, images come “alive” and become “effective” from a religious point of view not when they copy pre-established models but when they make new ones. Visual creativity is a means of accessing divinities.
On the other hand, these cults confer great importance on visions. Believers affirm seeing divinities at certain times and dreams too play a critical role as a means of communicating with the beyond.
Afro-American religions are widely practised in Catalonia, though often very discreetly and almost clandestinely. Altars are usually domestic in nature and ceremonies are mostly held in private locations. This contrasts with the public nature of many of these rituals in Latin American and the Caribbean. Many believers alternate between working with physical altars and organising online rituals. In fact, both worlds (online and off-line) are becoming increasingly intertwined.
In sum, images and gaze play a key role in Afro-American religions, to the point where visual creativity and seeing and being seen appear as two essential factors in the development of rituals, not just in America but also in migratory experiences.
CONCLUSION
Images are playing an increasingly decisive role in religious practices. Hinduism and Afro-American religions, two different sets of beliefs which nevertheless have many points in common, are good examples of this.
Images (and digital culture above all) need to be taken into account when it comes to studying how various cultures relate to the sacred. Altars, for example, are being photographed and shared on social networks. There are programmers using AI to animate religious images or hold rituals remotely. The current system of trust in images inside the religious sphere demonstrates how, contrary to the predictions found in secularist theses, religion has not disappeared from modern society.
In short, in the face of an increasingly complex and intense visual ecology, we now need to focus, more than ever, on how the sacred is conveyed as an image — and, by the same token, how images can acquire a transcendent dimension.
Note: This scientific article is part of the Visual Trust project. Reliability, accountability and forgery in scientific, religious and social images (2021-2026). This project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) within the framework of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 101002897).
We would like to express our gratitude for the support received from the ISKCON association and to all the practitioners of Afro-American religions in Catalonia who helped us in this research.
Dr. Roger Canals (Phd)
Associate Professor
PI ERC-Consolidator Grant: Visual Trust. Reliability, accountability and forgery in scientific, religious and social images (2021-2026)
Juan Francisco Cuyás
PhD Candidate
ERC-Consolidator Grant: Visual Trust. Reliability, accountability and forgery in scientific, religious and social images (2021-2026). PI: Roger Canals (PhD)
