ROMA MITICA invites artists to contribute original artworks for an upcoming limited edition art book dedicated to the Black Madonna as image, theology & shared cultural memory.

The Black Madonna is venerated by Catholics, Orthodox, Copts, Syro-Malabar, and Muslims from Spain to Lebanon, from France to Egypt, and in Russia, Poland, Greece, Persia, Turkey, Croatia, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary to Iraq and India into Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Congo and beyond to the Americas, Mexico, Brazil, United States, Asia, the Philippines, China and Australasia.

The devotion links unexpected peoples in unusual ways that transcend race, denomination and even religion.

ROMA MITICA calls artists to participate in an art book inspired by the Black Madonna, showing how she unites and consoles in a time of tension, trans-generational trauma, conflict, migration, division, and distrust.

ROMA MITICA welcomes submissions that engage the Black Madonna as sacred icon that represents the theological paradox of the woman most blessed among all woman, and among all nations, and yet who remains hidden because her womb is wider than the heavens. The icon of Mary as black is shared cultural memory that transcends categories, as an enduring symbol of normal motherly invisibility, suffering, protection and love. Her cult emphasises the themes of contested, hybrid and hidden identity as most sacred to us all: our innermost heart.

Direct engagement with specific Black Madonna icons, statues or devotional traditions is welcome but not obligatory; submissions may also adopt contemporary, feminist, political, allegorical, or speculative frameworks that resonate with The Black Madonna’s spiritual and cultural presence.

Selected artists will be published in the edited volume and will receive a complimentary copy of the first edition.

Read the Open Call guidelines below carefully.

Eligibility

• Open to artists of all nationalities and backgrounds.

• Emerging and established artists are welcome.

• Both individual artists and collectives may apply.

Conceptual Focus

Submissions should engage with one or more of the following themes:

• Sacred darkness and theological paradox

• Concealed identity as loving humility and subversion of the flashy wickedness of the world

• Beauty and blackness

• Race, representation, and divinity

• Marian devotion, shared humanity, brotherhood among all peoples as children of the same mother

• Maternal protection and filial love and longing

• The Incarnation and humanity of God

• The human inhabited by the Divine

• Iconography and material history

• Transformation, transfiguration and recuperation and Resurrection of what is dead or lost

• Gender, sanctity, and embodied authority

• The Black Madonna as a site of contested identity and collective projection

• Our obscure and shared origins

• Africa as mother

• Eden as our beginning

Direct references to specific Black Madonna icons or traditions are welcome but not required. Contemporary, critical, feminist, theological, or speculative approaches are encouraged.

Accepted Media

Artists may submit works in any of the following mediums, including but not limited to:

• Painting

• Drawing

• Printmaking

• Photography

• Sculpture

• Installation

• Textile or mixed media

• Digital art

• Archival, research-based, or conceptual practices

Time-based or performance works may be considered only if they can be effectively represented through still images and text in a book format.

Submission Requirements

Applicants must submit:

1. Artwork documentation

   • We recommed submitting high-resolution images

2. Artist statement

   • Describing the conceptual relationship to the project

3. Artist biography

4. Technical details

   • Title, year, medium, dimensions, and image credit information

5. Receipt of donation a to Fondazione Stanta Francesca Romana.

   • The recommended amount of donation is 20€. If you are in need of financial assistance in making the donation, please contact us via email and we will advice you further.

   • The donations of this Open Call support the Foundation of Santa Francesca Romana, a home caring for the elderly founded in 1420 by the Doria Pamphilj family in Rome's Trastevere. ROMA MITICA is proud to support this important work in favour of the dignity of old age and the natural end of life.

Selection Process

• Submissions will be reviewed by the editor and curatorial team.

• Selection will be based on conceptual relevance, artistic quality, and diversity of perspectives.

• Selected artists will be notified by email.

Artist Compensation

• Each selected artist will receive one complimentary copy of the published book in which their work appears.

• The project does not include an artist fee or production budget.

• Artists retain full copyright to their works and grant non-exclusive rights for reproduction in the publication and related promotional materials.

Publication

• Selected works will be reproduced in the book alongside curatorial and scholarly texts.

• Image credits and artist biographies will be included.