In the name of God is a project launched by Jens Galschiøt involving a sculpture of a pregnant teenager, created as an act against the church’s strict sexual policy.
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The pregnant teenager
The pregnant teenager is a series of sculptures created by Jens Galschiøt. The copper sculpture depicts a pregnant teenager in natural size crucified on a big cross.
It is a harsh comment to the impact of the fundamentalist branch of the Christian church, with President Bush and the Pope in the lead, on contraception and sexual education. Women, including teenagers, bear the brunt of the disastrous consequences of the ban on condoms based on ´Christian´ morality.
The international AIDS day in Copenhagen
On 1 December 2006, at the international AIDS day, the 5 meter high crucifix in copper with "the pregnant teenager" was set up in front of the Cathedral of Copenhagen. As an act against the way the strict churches are against the use of condom and therefore lead religious people to unprotected sex. It was the first time when the sculpture was used for official happening.
The Nicaragua happening
On March 2007 the sculpture "In The Name of God" was the milestone in a campaign launched by Nicaraguan women groups to fight maternal mortality. 37 pregnant women have died during the first 3 months of 2007 because they were denied abortion, although the delivery turned out to be life-threatening. The dead mothers orphaned 80 children.
The campaign was launched on 17 May with a press conference and a blockade in front of the Supreme Court and at the motorway. The "pregnant teenager" started its tour around the country on 20 May as an eye-catcher of the campaign. To boost the impact, the women have produced hundreds of small copies of the sculpture to be handed out to parliamentarians, the judiciary and other authorities.
World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya
In 2007 at the World Social Forum in Nairobi Jens Galschiøt brought 2 statues of the crucified teenager, and in order to avoid heated debates about the nakedness, he made the 2 statues with fabric (in bronze) covering the genital. At the social World Social Forum, the “In the name of good” create 3 activities.
- The first workshop was a conference where several artist form Uganda, Kenya and other countries, spoke about how they use art in theatre, painting or sculpture, to highlight local and global issues.
- Exhibition of the sculpture “In the Name of God” on a central site of the WSF.
- Forum theatre: In co-operation with the IATM International (Anti-Corruption Theatrical Movement) from Uganda an act has been performed around the sculpture. The theatre troupe made the public to join the dialogue about interference of religion in the policy of sexual rights, contraception and AIDS.
- The Danish ecologist association Eco-net displayed two Balancing Act sculptures at the WSF to achieve worldwide promotion of this sculptural manifestation on sustainability.