Vision Through Ecstasy: Fabián Cháirez & Queer Catholic Symbology
Maya Cristina Ramirez
Ekphrasis: An Art History Graduate Journal May 22, 2026 DOI: 10.62327/r2v0xzju7a (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | MDMA |
| Key points | Argues that Catholic constructions of gendered sin shape religious signs, and that the mystic body across Europe and the Americas serves as a site of controversy and ecstatic pleasure where queer reinterpretations, such as Fabián Cháirez's paintings, challenge traditional ideals through depictions of female ecstasy. |
Abstract
Spanish colonialism in the Americas offered a single vision of holiness, crafting Western notions of visuality and sign(s) as rooted in Christian imagery. The reality of figures of faith is bound to images and visual perception. This paper aims to examine this notion, how it upholds Western power structures, and how mysticism disrupts gendered boundaries within the Catholic Church. Mystic experience emphasizes female pleasure and women’s capacity to commune with the holy, ultimately subverting the Western construction of women as sinful. Fabián Cháirez’s subversive use of religious symbols in queer contexts challenges Catholic notions of sin, sensuality, and visibility. An analysis of Cháirez’s paintings Estigmas (2023) and La Eucaristía (2020) evaluates tensions in terms of femininity and female pleasure, contesting the Catholic teachings of women as sinful, vision as sinful, and highlighting the paradox of this within socially accepted Catholic art and signs. By placing Cháirez’s paintings in conversation with Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647–52) this paper finds that Catholic constructions of gendered sin inform religious signs, while the mystic body, across both Europe and the Americas, functions as a site of controversy and ecstatic pleasure where queer reinterpretations challenge traditional ideals through depictions of female ecstasy.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on MDMA, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Differences Between the Mechanism of Action of MDMA, MBDB, and the Classic Hallucinogens. Identification of a New Therapeutic Class: Entactogens | 1986 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Background and Chemistry of MDMA | 1986 | Historical analysis | |
| The origin of MDMA (ecstasy) revisited: the true story reconstructed from the original documents* Original documents in Merck's historical archive in Darmstadt, Germany, years 1900–1960 | 2006 | Historical analysis | |
| Distinct neural mechanisms for the prosocial and rewarding properties of MDMA | 2019 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |