Toys - Sculptures - Plush - OOAK Dolls- Doll Rehab - Botched Jesuses - Photoshoots

The year is 2012. The place is Borja, a small city in northeastern Spain. Our subject is Cecilia Giménez, an elderly woman who enjoys dabbling in paints in her spare time

Cecilia was unhappy with how a 1930’s fresco (Ecce Homo) at her church had fallen into disrepair and she took it upon herself to fix it. One day, without telling anyone of her plans, she took her paints to the church. To guide her restoration she brought with her a photo of what the fresco had looked like a decade earlier.

From left to right: What she aimed for. What she started with. What she left behind

The world called it Monkey Jesus, Potato Christ, Beast Jesus and so much more.

She objectively ruined the fresco. Yet the influx of visitors, the immense interest in seeing what she’d done, boosted the local economy. The reaction to her ruining a fresco allowed for a variety of upgrades to be made to the church and town overall. There’s a lovely 22 minute documentary (The Fresco Fiasco) that was made in 2016 in the UK with Assumpta Serna who also played Cecilia in the made-for-tv film: Behold the Monkey

I am not alone in thinking of this fresco often, and smiling. You may too. There are a myriad of ways the Botched Ecce Homo (the fresco) is a metaphor for so many. It resonates.

In December 2021 I took a New York Fire Fighter action figure I had and made my own Botched Jesus Figure. I laughed, my friends laughed, I persisted. I made a second. I bought a used anime figuring and gave it his face. I made simple push molds to quicken the process. I made a small broach and gave him away. My friend Ebony gave me a tiny frame and I filled it with his love.

I have not stopped.
I have taken “proper” pictures of them for my shop but the truth is I love him best in informal photos. That is why this gallery is my least organized. I cannot restrain myself to chronological order, finished photos only, or only one or two images per figure.