The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was certainly different. Instead of taking place in a stadium, it was a continuous procession down the Seine, with teams and tableaux on barges.
In spite of the incessant rain, there were some magic moments. Celine Dione singing Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour and the Marseillaise sung by soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel from the rooftop of the Grand Palais. Not to mention the silver horse with Sequana, the goddess of the Seine on its back, riding up the river to the Eiffel Tower.
This tableau of the horse and rider, entitled Solidarité, was intended to embody the Olympic spirit. But what was the intention behind the tableau with transgender model and singer, Paloma, at its centre. Dressed as Dionysus, the Greek God of wine and pleasure, other drag queens posed either side of her, to many the scene was reminiscent of Da Vinci’s depiction of The Last Supper.
“Is nothing sacred?” I hear some people say. Yes, the tableau has caused quite a stir. But what do we mean by “sacred”? To followers of Islam the black stone in the Kaaba at Mecca is sacred, Christian scriptures are often referred to as sacred, to pagans Stonehenge is sacred.
“Sacred”, it seems to me, is a value we humans put on things, depending on our view of the world, our culture and the beliefs we hold. What if we held all of creation to be sacred and treated it as such? Now, that would be a challenge.
Chris Dawson