INTRODUCTION
one method, ‘…relies on pleasure in recognition, […] galleries summon their visitors to convert archival memory into repertoire through their own affective responses, triggering re-performance in the spectator of what once was experienced live if not by them, then by others’.7 As museum visitors and lucha libre fans of varying ages visited the museum on opening night, clad in t-shirts and face coverings referencing their favorite luchadores, they arrived with an expectation of reliving experiences through the archive. Performances also leave physical traces, like the items in the museum’s exhibition. Objects in these collections, including costumes, awards, photographs, and even fan memorabilia, are valuable evidence of the environmental factors that make performances possible. While lucha libre is perhaps most identifiable for its material culture through masks, few pieces of academic study on the subject take an object-based approach. This project uses case studies and objects to examine how contemporary luchadores in El Paso engage with materiality. I propose that luchadores performing within specialized areas, as an exótico and luchadora, exert agency through character design while navigating constraints from performance tradition and gendered conventions. Using elements that span the hair, body, and face, they also develop recognizable visual character design traits that can be simplified and disseminated through other media with reference to individuals rather than generic iconography.
L I T E R ATU RE RE VIEW First, it is important to note that, while some Spanish sources are part of this study, most of the secondary literature used is in English or offered through translation. Perhaps due to lucha libre’s growing international market, a significant number of articles and books are offered in both English and Spanish, often with texts in both languages presented side-by-side. In a 2015 special issue of Artes de México on lucha libre, published in both English and Spanish, anthropologist Susan Bennett, Theatre & Museums (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 7
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