Salve Regina

 Daniel Martin Díaz infuses myriad visual histories into his work, borrowing from Southwest retablo art, scientific diagrams, the occult, the Byzantine Empire, and Northern European masters like Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Dürer. Díaz engages with the power of symbols, enamored with numbers or icons that elicit emotion. He pairs culturally loaded numbers like 13 with Catholic Marian images to question why some representations carry an inexplicable sense of fear or wonder.  

Salve Regina features a Marian image and Latin antiphon, a brief religious text that is recited or sung. The image replicates a handheld prayer card used by Catholics for private devotion and the celebration of religious milestones. Countering the misogyny he witnessed in his home communities in Arizona, Díaz designed Salve Regina as a testament to his veneration of women icons and historical figures from throughout the Catholic faith. The artwork’s interwoven images from masonic societies, alchemy, and Christianity showcase Díaz’s visual manifestation and interpretation of what he believes is a benevolent presence and the existence of a higher power. His underlying aim is to celebrate all women as collectively represented by the Virgin.