She might be a relative of Jumbo Josh, but some believe this is unlikely due to a female version of him already appearing in Happy Frank's room. In any case, I started finding images of MM where she was naked, clothed only in her long red hair. Perhaps stubbornly, I was hoping that these strange images weren’t depicting her this way due to the mistaken idea that she was a prostitute. Yes? Reference 1: “Imagery of Ascension of Mary Magdalene,” blog post by Artelisa, July 15, 2013 at http://artelisaart.blogspot.com. It changed my life and made me the entertainer I am today. I was so nervous as I had only ever watched the body poppers and break dancers perform when I walked through town on a Saturday afternoon. I didn’t realise how difficult it was to make the public part with any small change they may have.” Reference 5: “Hairy Mary – One More Time,” blog post by Magdalena Lanuszka, November 10, 2018 at http://en.posztukiwania.pl/2018/11/10/hairy-mary-one-more-time/.

However, in her 2018 blog post, Lanuszka revisits her thinking by noting the hairy fur and drawing parallels to medieval “Wild Man” and “Wild Woman” images. She notices that in some hairy images, MM’s feet, knees and breasts were not covered in hair. This is key to her suggestion that a hairy Mary Magdalene was being compared with a Wild Woman. There is a body of artwork from the Middle Ages, sometimes located in the margins of illuminated manuscripts, that showcases men and women as hairy beasts living in the wilderness. I have found such images too, and so I am inclined to agree that this interpretation may be a piece of the iconographic puzzle. Reference 4: “Hairy Mary,” blog post by Magdalena Lanuszka, July 19, 2014 at http://en.posztukiwania.pl/2014/07/19/hairy-mary/. In the Middle Ages, it was common to simplify the art to appeal to and educate viewers, many of whom did not know how to read. For this reason, an iconography of Mary Magdalene developed, where she is often depicted with long red hair and an alabaster jar with oil. In the art history world, these are called her attributes – most other saints have attributes as well, so that they can be instantly recognized.

Solo

Hairy Mary resembles a possibly scrapped character that appears in Mr. Grimm's room, leading many to believe that she is the redesigned version of it. Buggy Huggy's fanbase has named her Noodle Mary. Image 2: “ The Ascension of Mary Magdalene” by Antonio Vivarini, Italy, circa 1440-1480, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Reference 3: “The Assumption of the Virgin Mary – The Story of the Virgin’s Belt,” blog post at Ad Imaginem Dei, August 14, 2020 at http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I have been collecting art images of Mary Magdalene for a long time. It all began years ago when I was looking on the internet for a few images to use in my Mary Magdalene feast day celebrations. It was interesting to see how she was almost always clothed in accordance with the upscale fashion of the times and the location of the artist. Dressed in a white boiler suit, with a motherboard attached to his belly and phone wires going across his body - Robert was a familiar face on a trip into town. He even made it onto an episode of Rab C Nesbitt.

Once upon a time, the streets of the city were ruled by a white masked cyborg mime artist - that was known for peeking into shopping bags and scaring the living daylights out of Glasgow weans.She mostly resembles Jumbo Josh, having the same bodyshape, eyes, build, mouth, etc. However, other than that, she is quite different. For starters, she is a genderswapped version, now female, and also pink. She is also very much a medusa-esc character, with hair made out of living snakes that aid her in battle. She also has a green bow that sits neatly on her head, and eyeshadow, eyelashes and makeup to make her look more feminine, she also has a blue splatter on her left hand, Compared to Jumbo's orange splatter. Reference 2: “Mary is Assumed into Heaven,” blog post at Ad Imaginem Dei, August 15, 2011 at http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com. UPDATES: This blog post was updated on August 9, 2023 and again on September 5, 2023 to include additional images of Mary Magdalene, to update links, and to make small editorial changes. Image 1: Illustration from Nurnberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel, 1491, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Image 6: “M Ms Ascension,” Mary Magdalene altar cabinet, late 15th century, Medeltidens bildvarld, from Harad in Sodermanland, Sweden.

In her 2014 blog post, she associated these images of a naked, but hairy Mary Magdalene with the legend that she became a hermit in a cave in Provence, France. In this way, Lanuszka originally connected these Mary Magdalene images to those of the fourth century hermit, Mary of Egypt, whose clothes wore out and turned to dust over the many years she lived in the desert. So yes, I guess in the end, this is all about reformed prostitutes. The conflation of these two women named Mary makes sense to me, based on my review of all of the images that I have collected. The Hairy Mary designs are reminiscent of some of the clothing my mum would dress me and my three older sisters in, ideally all matching, even better if the fabric looked like it was an old curtain, cherry on the cake if she’d made the outfits herself. The pieces draw inspiration from post-punk vibez and Hairy’s own Celtic heritage. They are funky, folky and fruitcake-ly mishmash in their one-of-a-kind nostalgic glory.

Image 4: “Ascension of Mary Magdalene,” by anonymous painter from Gdansk, tempera on panel, circa 1430, National Museum in Warsaw, Poland, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Anything goes really, but fundamentally, clothing should be merry; it should be both memorable and able to evoke memories and ideally, it should be fancy pants AF. Speaking to Glasgow Live in 2020, Robert Harris - the man behind the mask, told us: “I started one Friday afternoon in December of 1983, performing as Robert the Robot in Argyle Street and I can remember my first day like it was yesterday. Terms of service: You agree that you are making use of our services at your own risk, and that they are being provided to you on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. Accordingly, to the extent permitted by applicable law, we exclude all express or implied warranties, terms and conditions including, but not limited to, implied warranties of content, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Image 3: “ St. Mary Magdalene” by Giovanni Pietro Birago, Sforza Hours, British Library, MS 34294, fol.211.v, circa 1490, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Hairy Mary was founded by me, Rosie Barton, in May 2021, a few months after my mother died from breast cancer. Trigger warning, moment of serious gushing sentiment coming up (feel free to skip to the bit about Hairy Mary being the best hussie in biblical Egypt for light relief). She gave me my love for sewing and so each piece is hand embroidered with boobs and 5% of all profits are donated to the Maggie’s Centre in Oxford which provided free information and invaluable support to her, and to our family, both during her treatment and after her death.

Turns out that Mary of Egypt was a reformed prostitute (but you already knew that right?) If not, you can read her story in my blog post here. In a similar manner, MM has been pegged as a reformed prostitute who was conflated with the unnamed woman who anointed Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and John also tell the story, but it is in Luke 7:36-50 where, depending on the translation, she is named as “a notorious sinner” or “a certain immoral woman,” or “a woman who had a low reputation” or “a woman who lived a sinful life” or “a woman of the city,” all of which have led some people to conclude that she was a prostitute. So, it seems that Mary Magdalene may also have been conflated in art with Mary of Egypt, who according to her legend lived in the desert so long that her clothes disintegrated.