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Textile work, especially in Latin American tradition, has always been a realm of careful construction and deconstruction, where memory and reflection, specifically that of feminine experiences and passing them on, are of the utmost importance. Moreover, textiles’ purposes are to carry this within patterns, technique, color, and subject—in Latin America, this extends to political expression. Exploring humanness and the more intricate, almost socially molecular details of it, guides Feminism South to North. Taking experience to a profoundly public level, the realm of social engagement, is explicitly intentional, yet implicitly embedded into the very purpose of textile work itself.
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Likewise, Gabriela Ferrandez, Maria Cristina Medina, and Vivian Mayo examine the transformative potential of textile work as it relates to experience in a less intimate sphere.
Medina’s Bordando Ilusiones (Embroidering Illusions) explores opposing forces on a macro-level, integrating the resilience and elasticity of textile as an encounter, rather than a battle, asking the viewer to engage rather than confront. Ferrandez, in a similar way,aims to engage with balancethrough the use of collage in Gaia Equilibrando Poderes (Gaia Balancing Powers), displaying that even the most disparate of forces, entities, and forms are necessary for harmony, balance, and wholeness.
Mayo employs the history of handfans as a “spokesperson” in Fragilidad y Fortaleza (Fragility and Strength) Historically used by women of higher social classes in the West, as ritual objects in ancient Incan practices, and even symbolizing connection with a divine spirit, her mix of beads and organza on the piece fuses the ideas of “feminine” as both fragile and fierce, coexisting within a person and enriching one’s experience rather than tormenting.
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Textile work, especially in Latin American tradition, has always been a realm of careful construction and deconstruction, where memory and reflection, specifically that of feminine experiences and passing them on, are of the utmost importance. Moreover, textiles’ purposes are to carry this within patterns, technique, color, and subject—in Latin America, this extends to political expression. Exploring humanness and the more intricate, almost socially molecular details of it, guides Feminism South to North. Taking experience to a profoundly public level, the realm of social engagement, is explicitly intentional, yet implicitly embedded into the very purpose of textile work itself.
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Taking an intimate approach to textile, Patricia Saporiti intertwines generational knowledge in historical and familial contexts, paying homage to the generations of Argentine feminists before her and those in her own family, including her daughter and her niece. Saporiti’s hand-embroidered book speaks to the interconnectedness of community, especially that of feminine community through embroidery work, wherein the voice of one is more often speaking for the whole. As such, Carolina Weisz’ Veo, Veo, No Veo (I See, I See, I Don’t See) is directing the viewer’s attention to a struggle that functions in tandem with contemporary life, born out of a desire to “make the invisible, visible”—women, Indigenous peoples, the lower class experience. Weisz’ canvas print is beaded and embroidered, featuring soft sculptures that evoke ancient Latin American votive figurines, a piece in which she intends to highlight the joy and gratitude she finds in textile work, as well as create connections with groups that “are not seen, and thus not cared for.”
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The works in this exhibition are both entangled within and challenging the gender power dynamics and struggles facing a reckoning in South America, namely Argentina, Brasil, Venezuela, and Cuba, from which the featured artists hail. Their works touch upon alarming increases of femicide in the region, self-emancipation from social and familial expectations, the intersection of gender and experience and the effects it has on self-esteem and awareness, and the genesis of postmodern feminist movements demanding justice, equity, and consciousness. The essence of this exhibition lies in the power of necessary, radical action and conversation through the use of textiles, a widely recognized and long-valued space for political dissent and collective, cooperative identity.
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"Textile art allows me to cultivate generosity, gratitude, joy. I work balancing the need to innovate with the values I want to preserve, I encourage my creativity, but I also force myself to insist on rigor and operational discipline. The textile art allows me to practice the oldest trades of this world while expanding the possibilities of this field. It allows me not only to visualize time, but to turn it into a tactile and tangible object."
— Carolina Weisz
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FEMINISM FROM SOUTH TO NORTH
This exhibition will be available for in-person viewing from November 10–27, 2020.
To visit the exhibition, please contact The Contemporary Art Modern Project to make an appointment.
Feminism From South to North: A group exhibition featuring textile works by Latin American artists Rosana Machado Rodriguez, Carolina Weisz, Federico Casalinuovo, Gabriela Ferrandez, Maria Cristina Medina, Maru Ulivi, Patricia Saporiti, Sandra Onetti, Silvina Apfelbaum
Past viewing_room