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THE ROSARY + MARIAN DEVOTION + HOLY TRINITIES

Seven Marian niches with “Stone Rosaries” from my 2024v solo *Beautiful Seven/ Settebello* at SLOMA, inspired by my solo pilgrimage to “Seven Sisters” / Black Madonnas in Campania, Italy

I am a lifelong devotee of the Rosary, Marian mysteries, and their magic. I was raised very Catholic and my journey with and relationship to the Divine has taken many twists and turns over four decades of life. To some extent, the Rosary and Marian devotion have always been very present with me. And I believe that the mystery of the Holy Trinity gave me a dynamic lens through which to understand queerness and gender-expanded socio-spiritual expression. Just after undergrad, when I was experimenting with performance art and various new mediums, I often used the structure and language of the Rosary, or the Holy Trinity, as an armature upon which to build. This has continued to be the case, though my work (and practices of private and collective prayer) have grown and changed over time.

Below I’ve corralled groupings of projects and programs related to the above themese. Read more about them on each project page or sign up for my newsletters + follow me on Patreon or Substack (Joan’s Ark) for deeper dives, sneak peeks, and special content.

MARIAN-CENTRIC BIO

Molteni is the grandchild of rural Tennessee farmers, beekeepers, stunt motorcyclists and competitive square dancers (on their mother’s side) who lived and worked off of land just 30 minutes from Shaker village South Union Shaker Village in Kentucky. However, they did not learn about the Shakers until they moved to New England for school. Like many “Shaker freaks” out there, Molteni was hooked after their first visit to the living Shakers at Sabbathday Lake in 2007, when the late Sister Frances gifted them a copy of her memoir. They have been working closely with Shaker culture and archives ever since, often serving as an artist in residence at former Shaker Villages. Focused sites and archives have included Canterbury (NH), Hancock (MA), Harvard and Shirley Shaker Villages (by way of Fruitlands Museum, MA), and South Union (KY). Molteni has also spend a great deal of time doing field work on the grounds of Sabbathday Lake (ME), Mount Lebanon (NY), Watervliet (NY) and Enfield (NH) Shaker Villages.

With a concentration on the Era of Manifestations, particularly Gift Drawings and Mountain Meetings, Molteni’s interest in the Shakers includes their socio-spiritual philosophies, ordered + free-form dance styles, spirit communication, and celestial observations. Molteni observes Shaker culture through queer and matriarchal lenses, often incorporating their research as beekeeper and practicing Spiritualist into this discourse. Their most notable Shaker-centric projects include: Shaker Work-Out video series, Great Awakenings/ Radical Road Trip pilgrimage hosted with Now Age Travel, and the film Sacred Sheets, created in collaboration with Allison Halter and Gabe Elder.

In addition to short essays in Unseen Hours: Space Clearing for Spirit Work and Holding a Mirror to Heaven in Boston Art Reviews "Make Believe” issue, Molteni has offered Shaker-related lectures and programs through the American Folk Art Museum (NY), Viktor Wynd Museum/Last Tuesday Society (London), Shannon Taggart's Lily Dale Symposium (NY), Fruitlands Museum (MA), Nashville Film Festival (TN) to name a few.