Transgender Retablo Ex Voto

Retablos are small oil paintings on tin, wood or copper that venerate Catholic images of faith. The below retablo is an excellent example of an ex-voto, which is a votive offering of devotion, or in this case, gratitude for divine intervention.

This retablo depicts a hate-crime being interrupted by a man sent by divine intervention. The man holding the gun below the divine presence is saving the transgender person from men who are attempting to brutalize her.

University of Houston’s Professor of Linguistics, Malcolm Williams interpreted the retablo’s narritive as follows: “On my way back from a party I ran into a couple of bastards who wanted to hit me for being gay. I raised a prayer to the Virgin of San Juan not to let them do anything to me and a gentleman came out to defend me. He was Ricardo “La Carisma”. Barrio of Minas De Cristo, Mexico. May 17, 2000.”