Visual Inspiration: Shrines, Altars, & Religious Iconography

I’m home! I’m still buzzing with inspiration from the many fantastic things I saw in Mexico, but there are two things in particular that resonated with me more than anything else: my newfound passion for Frida Kahlo, who I never thought twice about until I got to see her home and art and learned more extensively about her life, and the immense beauty of religious shrines, altars, and imagery.

Everywhere you turn in Mexico City you are bound to see, in some form, the image of the Virgin Guadalupe (aka the Virgin Mary), often in a shrine adorned with sugar skulls, flowers, and candles. Though I’m not a particularly religious person myself, there’s something beautiful to me about the amount of effort that goes into making a shrine as elaborate and full of splendor as possible – and the amount of passion one must have for the subject, be it Guadalupe or Buddha or nature or Michael Jackson (those are all of equal status, right?). Do I love anything enough to devote a shrine to it? Can’t say for sure. Shoes are up there. Will get back to you on this.

In any case, here are a whole bunch of visually inspiring shrines, altars, and religious symbols and iconography. It’s shrine time!