Hail Mary, Full of Eggs, Blessed Be Thy Cholesterol

Oksana Mas, a Ukrainian artist, has created a stunning mosaic portrait of the Virgin Mary using 15,000 Ukrainian Easter eggs. It is currently on display at the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. The mosaic is 7 x 7 meters in size, weighs 2.5 tons and took nine months to create. The wooden eggs were painted by the artist and by children from all across the country. Here is Oksana Mas in front of her masterpiece:

A closer view of the Virgin's face:

You can really see the individual eggs in this extreme close-up of Her eye:

I love how the Sacred Mother seems to be rising up out of the depths -- She is the Goddess Returning! The Virgin who births the Divine, She is comprised of the ultimate fertility symbol -- eggs. And is it simply a coincidence that She is being displayed at a cathedral sacred to the female saint, Sophia -- She who is Holy Wisdom?

And what an affirmation of traditional Ukrainian culture with all those gorgeous, painted eggs! I'm sure there is a political message as well -- that an independent Ukraine rises from the bottomless black pit that was Soviet Russia.