The DJ Marea Stamper has dropped the stage name the Black Madonna. After online pressure, including a petition that attracted more than 1,000 signatures, Stamper has adopted the stage name the Blessed Madonna, she announced in a tweet Monday morning (July 20). “My artist name has been a point of controversy, confusion, pain and frustration that distracts from things that are a thousand times more important than any single word in that name,” she wrote. Find her full statement below.
In Christian art, the term “black madonna” refers to icons of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus that are cast—for historically contested reasons—in black or dark brown. Stamper tweeted: “I’ve always been transparent about my faith…. The name was a reflection of my family’s lifelong and profound Catholic devotion” to these icons.
In the petition for the name change, the Black Catalogue label founder Monty Luke wrote that the name “holds significance for catholics around the world, but especially so for black catholics in the US, Caribbean and Latin America. In addition, Detroit’s Shrine of the Black Madonna has been an important cultural figure to many interested in the idea of Black feminism and self-determination for the past 50 years. Religious connotations aside though, it should be abundantly clear that in 2020, a white woman calling herself ‘black’ is highly problematic.” Luke also wrote that Stamper had not responded to private correspondence on the matter in recent weeks.
Pitchfork has emailed Stamper and Luke for further comment.