25 minute read
Susana Guerrero
mulier mulieris
Amparo Navarro Faure President of the University of Alicante The mulier, mulieris Biennial Visual Arts Contest is an initiative launched by the University of Alicante, always committed to giving visibility to women’s achievements and raising awareness of the need to work together if we are to achieve gender equality and non-discrimination. It is in this spirit that the University of Alicante Museum has run the 14th edition of the contest, which serves as a platform for a rich artistic debate in which feminism is understood as a tool for social change. The 16 entries selected for exhibition have been created by 18 artists (14 women, 4 men) who come from different places and adopt a variety of technical and conceptual approaches. Through their paintings, photographs, posters, collages, videos or sculptures, we become aware of complex and diverse situations affecting women. The works on display look at the concerns, challenges and aspirations of every free, fair and equal society. The selection jury included one of the pioneers of feminist pop art in the Valencia Region: Isabel Oliver, PhD in Fine Arts and Professor of Drawing at the Universitat Politècnica de València. Her more than 40 years of experience and her tireless advocacy of the feminist cause have resulted in a selection of works characterised by their high quality and diversity, in terms of themes and artistic forms.
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A look at the issues explored in these works, undertaken between 2018 and 2021, leaves no doubt as to the artists’ unwavering ethical and aesthetic commitment. Several projects build on the legacy of women, laying bare how their role in contexts like artistic creation, war, domestic work or the public sphere has been deliberately ignored. Other pieces delve into multiple forms of violence (verbal, economic, physical, sexual) women can be subject to. Motherhood is analysed from different angles: women who wish to become mothers but are unable to, women who choose not to have children, or the controversial issue of surrogacy. Finally, some works focus on consent, aesthetic or religious impositions, sexist stereotypes or the identification of women with nature, rounding out a unique exhibition where we will discover new ways of looking at and understanding the reality around us. One more year, on the occasion of an exhibition showcasing the artists’ compassionate, attentive and knowing gaze, I encourage you to share your reflections and take this chance to engage in thought and transformative action.
Isabel Oliver Artist. Professor of drawing. Polytechnic university of Valencia One more year, this compelling initiative brings together a number of artists who reflect on women and their visibility in the social fabric through a wide variety of artistic forms. After 14 editions of the mulier, mulieris Biennial, the University of Alicante has demonstrated to be a pioneering institution in its commitment to women’s rights. We often forget that art, which cannot be dissociated from the social fabric it emerges from, constitutes a community of men and women. As pointed out by Rocío de la Villa: “The exponential growth of the number of women having joined Spain’s art system in recent decades has led us to examine, from a critical and political perspective, the situation of women in various professional sectors.”1 It is interesting to determine the extent to which the advance of feminism, which has been particularly remarkable over the last few years (one just needs to look at the #MeToo movement or the International Women’s Day marches that have taken place all over the world), has resulted in increased equality between women and men in art and other fields.
According to the 1978 Spanish Constitution (Part I. “Fundamental rights and duties”. Chapter three. “Governing Principles of Economic and Social Policy”. Article 44), “The public authorities shall promote and watch over access to cultural opportunities, to which all are entitled”. Therefore, this new mulier, mulieris edition at the University of Alicante is fully in line with the obligation for public institutions to guarantee, without excluding anyone, the right to cultural creation and cultural training. In this case, the aim of the mulier, mulieris contest is clear: to encourage reflection on, and serve as a platform for artists concerned with, women’s visibility in art and culture, which remains a crucial issue in feminist studies. This year’s contest is the latest addition to a list of initiatives with a similar purpose, the first of which was, in Spain, the ground-breaking exhibition Territorios indefinidos. Discursos sobre la construcción de la identidad femenina2 [‘Indefinite territories. Discourses on the construction of female identity’], staged in 1995.
1 Rocío de la Villa. Mujeres en el sistema del arte en España. Ed. MAV. 2012. p. 9 2 Isabel Tejeda, curator of this exhibition, is a researcher and pioneer of feminist studies.
Support for further rigorous research on feminism is ever more widespread. Proponents of this view include the Montehermoso Cultural Centre, which in 2009 published a study on artistic production and feminist theory in art. Also notable was a 2011 international symposium at the Thyssen Museum, where participants discussed a variety of topics concerning feminist agency and empowerment in the visual arts. The symposium was held on the occasion of the Heroínas [‘Heroines’] exhibition, curated by Guillermo Solana.
In those years, other initiatives were the exhibitions 100 años en femenino. Una historia de las mujeres en España3 [‘100 years of women in Spain: a history’] at Madrid’s Conde Duque Centre (2012) and Genealogías feministas en el arte español [‘Feminist genealogies in Spanish art’], run by the Castile and León Contemporary Art Museum4 (MUSAC), in León in 2015, in which I took part with my painting work. The list of exhibitions and studies goes on and on. Standouts include Mujeres y cultura, políticas de igualdad [‘Women and culture, equality policies’] (2011), focusing on the work undertaken by the Spanish Ministry of Culture since 2007, and Estrategia para las artes visuales [‘A strategy for the visual arts’] (2011), highlighting the contributions from the Mujeres en las Artes Visuales (‘Women in the Visual Arts’, MAV) association. From my personal experience as an artist having addressed feminist issues since the 1970s, I would like to stress the importance of all these movements that aim for greater visibility of women’s work. For many years I have had to believe, alone in my studio, that I had to persist with my theoretical and plastic approaches, trying not to feel disheartened by rejection and looking for a way to survive in a world so
3 Curated by Oliva María Rubio and Isabel Tejeda Marín. 4 Curated by Juan Vicente Aliaga and Patricia Mayayo. hostile to women. From my safe position as a Professor of Painting at the Universitat Politècnica de València, I have been able to keep on working for what I believe in.
Serving as a jury member at the 2022 mulier, mulieris competition has been an extremely rewarding experience. I have confirmed that involvement in feminism remains, and will remain, a priority in achieving gender equality. This should encourage us to work further on remedying the imbalance that still exists in society. All 47 projects submitted for competition were highly stimulating and excellent in terms of quality. The 16 entries on display were selected following a rigorous and plural reflection process. A winner and two runners-up have been selected. The first prize has gone to “Proyecto Guerrero: Santa Catalina de Alejandría decapitada”, by artists Mario-Paul Martínez, Vicente J. Pérez and Susana Guerrero. The recipients of the two runner-up prizes have been Ana Maya, for “Mensajeras niñas”, and Eva Mauricio, for her VÍACRUCIS series.
Throughout my 40-year career, I have questioned the traditional roles assigned to women in Spanish society (and, more recently, also in the history of universal art), seeking to do them justice and release them from their secondary role as submissive victims. Along the way, I have felt lonely, misunderstood and frustrated. However, I am now happy to see that more and more people are speaking up, sharing and expressing – whether through private self-reflection or participation in collective struggles – their aspirations for a fairer, more equal and freer society. I thank them all for their empathy and commitment.
Texts by artists
Carlos Balsalobre Virginia Calvo Ana Casanova Bárbara Fernández Abad Rocío Kunst Gloria Lapeña María Mas Mario-Paul Martínez - Vicente J. Pérez - Susana Guerrero Eva Mauricio Ana Maya León Juan F. Navarro Úrsula Ochoa Alicia Palacios-Ferri María Reig Mari la Sosa Sara Vicente
Carlos Balsalobre
¿Cómo quieres que te lo digan? BINARIO series Digital photography. Polyptych 30 x 30 cm each 2021
We have been telling you for a long time, loud and clear. But it seems you don’t care. You keep doing whatever you want, mistreating, intimidating, abusing, harassing, beating, restricting, murdering women. In 2021 you killed 43 women with your own hands, yet it looks like you still don’t get the message. How can that be? How are we supposed to tell you? In binary code? In Morse code? In ASCII code? This is the tip of an unbearable iceberg that becomes bigger every time a woman is killed, and I would like to contribute to the necessary solution. I make photographic portraits, using different codes to establish a visual and conceptual connection with the viewer. To undertake this project, I enlisted the help of a heterogeneous group of people contacted through social media. They generously consented to their image being used, wishing to speak with one voice against this age-old scourge. These citizens, of different sexes, ages, races, religions and nationalities, represent a free and egalitarian society. They formed three groups, each holding a part of the same message in binary, Morse and ASCII code that reads: ENOUGH!
Virginia Calvo
Basado en hechos reales Collage of words cut from newspapers, stuck to sheets from a notebook and put in transparent bags 210 x 295 cm 2021
I usually make collages of words I cut from newspapers, decontextualising them, linking them to one another in order to find new meanings. I am primarily interested in issues relating to women. Violence against women and gender inequality are something we see in the news every day. We should be aware of how essential it is to keep individual and collective memory alive, so that this reality is not
forgotten. This should lead to an in-depth reflection on the root causes of a situation facing one half of the world’s population: women. My project is a work of fiction inspired by true events, because I employ words that have appeared in real news items published in newspapers. I use names and situations in a casual manner, as a statement in memory of so many women who have been victims of violence. Basado en hechos reales (“Based on true events”) is an installation of collages hanging on a wall, a polyptych that encourages reflection and debate through the reading of the sentences I have formed. They turn us into characters in an open, and often painful, story, which we can imagine and complete as we wish. The collages are put in bags as a metaphor for vacuum packing, here used as a method for preserving the memory of acts committed against women. These acts can be listed and must be preserved and kept safe if we do not want them to be forgotten.
Ana Casanova Cristóbal
CONSENTIMIENTO 6 black and white photographs on paper mounted on MD frame 36.6 x 55.6 cm each Colour video in 4K, 25 seconds, on loop.
My installation aims to make us reflect on sexual consent. Here we see a girl on the floor; she is in an agitated mood, sometimes laughing (or so it seems), some other times apparently inert. The girl is the object of desire, but she should be the subject of desire as well. However, when this is the case (that is, when she gives “consent”), she gets caught up in a spiral in which she is no longer allowed to change her mind. Nowadays, she is still judged by society for being attractive, for wearing provocative clothes, for making advances, for turning men on. And if you behave like that, it’s only logical (so they say) that your body will not be respected, as you have activated the male sex machine, which can’t be switched off. The victim is seen as morally dubious, an accusation that even in the 21st century is mostly directed at women. What is “consent”, though? That’s something many should think about. Sexual consent is an agreement to take part in a sexual activity, set your personal limits and respect your partner’s. Such consent must be freely given, with no pressure and in full awareness, that is, not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It must be specific, like consenting to kisses and caresses, but not to penetration. And the hardest thing for some to understand: it is always reversible. You can change your mind on what you wish to do, anytime. Even if you have done it before and are already naked in bed.
Bárbara Fernández Abad
Excluidas Traditional sewn binding, loose covers. Artisanal printing of covers in a single ink using a Minerva printer. 21 x 15 cm each 2022
In 1971, Linda Nochlin published a seminal essay in the historiography of feminist art: Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? Fifty years later, several studies on the curricula and textbooks used in Spain’s current educational system conclude that this question remains valid today. The current educational curriculum excludes women authors, creators, thinkers and scientists. Thus, students remain unaware of women’s capacity to add value to knowledge. The androcentric vision of science and culture rests on the notion that women had no part in social development around the world; consequently, our educational system does not provide female role models we can identify with. Under the title Excluidas (“Excluded women”), I present a series of 6 books named after 6 female artists who represent the absence of women in art history. Open any of them, and you will find nothing but the silence of blank, empty, silent pages… laying bare the paradox through which I wish to challenge the traditional historical narrative, in which the lack of women is seen as normal and that, on an ideological level, has contributed to creating definitions of femininity and masculinity and divisions and hierarchies between sexes.
Rocío Kunst
“About my branches” series Estrato Photograph 80 x 100 cm 2020 Estado Photograph 60 x 100 cm 2020 Origen Photograph 14 x 7 cm 2020 Brote Photograph 30 x 40 cm 2019
Rocío Kunst takes very specific elements from nature as a temporary refuge and creates an original series of works that are a product of the times we live in – expressive, gloomy, yet revealing. The “About my branches” project shows the intimacy of nudity blended with nature, as well as the porosity of the skin, through the deconstruction of the female image. A woman’s body set in the hollow inside of a tree trunk, seeking shelter among its branches, stretched out along its roots, using rituality to appeal to the viewer, who doubts whether this body is alive, empowered or inert. Maybe, the most difficult thing to address right now is the fact that natural shelters are necessary for human survival. For decades we have turned a blind eye to global warming, we have denied the existence of climate change and so many other things that have pushed our planet to the brink; now we must become aware of it all. Employed as a valuable tool for education and communication, art helps us in understanding the apparent absurdity of life. Thus, the exhibition of Rocío Kunst’s work marks the start of a decade of hope, encouraging us to change toxic dynamics and take a new approach to our relationship with the natural environment, of which we are but a ramification. “About my branches” reminds us that there is still time for each one of us to lend a hand in an ecosystem that instils respect in us through the solemnity of its images.
Marisol Salanova
Gloria Lapeña
Sanatorio de Berta Wilhelmi. Granada, 1923-1936 Mixed techniques 7.5 x 8.5 x 10.5 cm 2019
Sanatorio de Berta Wilhelmi. Granada, 1923-1936 (“Berta Wilhelmi’s sanatorium. Granada, 19231936”) is an artist’s book that encapsulates the genius loci of a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients at Sierra de la Alfaguara. The sanatorium was founded by German writer, educator and philanthropist Berta Wilhelmi for the treatment of those suffering from the same respiratory disease her brother had died from. Located in a woodland area called Haza del Pinar, this institution allowed patients to rest and become stronger. In 1936 the patients were moved to the San Lázaro Hospital and the sanatorium was turned into a defensive command centre for the Nationalist troops during the Spanish Civil War. The building currently lies in ruins, covered in vegetation. The work is displayed inside a staining box for histological sections, containing samples of plants collected onsite and stained with methylene blue, a colourant used in the differentiation of acid fast bacteria, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The pile of tissues mounted on slides resembles the ramifications of the respiratory system, enclosed within a fragile material, like the body of the patients who were admitted there, fighting to breathe. The folded artisanal paper contains inclusions of the wild plants that have
invaded the ruins. The text refers to this building, with its large windows to receive sunlight, surrounded by vegetation and clean air, away from the city, providing isolation and rest. All in all, this is a project about everything relating to the genius loci as conceived by Wilhelmi in 1923.
Mari la Sosa
La voz de Pepa Audio-visual work. 3 min 40 s 2021
Pepa was born in Alcadozo, a town in the Sierra de Albacete area, almost 93 years ago. Contrary to the clichés about La Mancha being a flat region, Albacete has a sierra, and there are people living there. For most of her life Pepa has been the eldest of seven siblings, as her older brother died when he was very young. Pepa keeps in her voice the tradition of the women from the sierra – a cultural tradition that has little to do with that of flatter, drier areas in the region. Different in their way of living, in their customs, in the open personality of its residents, as they are in contact with water and can climb to the top of a mountain to get a better viewpoint. Pepa usually tells me how she makes the hojuelas, how the fried oil and the honey are mixed as she stirs with a stick. Pepa also sings to me sometimes, and in her singing you get a glimpse of the established roles, of all the suffering people experienced in those hard times, when she learnt the songs. She recently sang to me as she was falling asleep in the sun of the adobe patio. Like a mantra, the main lyrics appeared and disappeared – as does time on the patio wall. Pepa is very old now. And she is my grandmother.
FIRST PRIZE Proyecto Guerrero: Santa Catalina de Alejandría decapitada Various sizes Brass, electrical cables, thorns of agave tobalá and enamelled ceramics with ceramic gold. 2021 Guerrero. La cabeza entre las manos. Video. 18 minutes. 2022
Beneath the frescoes of the San Sebastián de los Caballeros church in Zamora province, we find the inscribed signature of Teresa Díez: “TERESA DIEÇ ME FECIT”. An artist or maybe the promoter of one of the few murals from the Spanish Gothic period (14th century) signed by a woman, depicting the effigy of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Artist Susana Guerrero, working with film-makers Mario-Paul Martínez and Vicente J. Pérez, draws inspiration from the work of this enigmatic figure of sacred art and interprets Saint Catherine’ martyrdom in a work combining audio-visual media and sculptural installation. The project has two pieces: on the one hand, a video art-documentary piece that explores the connections between both artists, Díez and Guerrero, comparing the time periods each lived (or lives) in, their mythological imaginaries and their creative processes; on the other, a sculptural installation by Susana Guerrero, resulting from her research and showing the connection between two women artists from different centuries: Santa Catalina de Alejandría decapitada. The latter work represents the Saint’s mutilated body, which the artist then rewrites: in her installation, Saint Catherine was beheaded, but survived. A reconstruction of her body through her legend, her attributes and her martyrdom, poetically and symbolically rendered through metal structures with agave thorns, enamelled ceramics and flesh of braided cables: an “object of faith” with which to summon the power of this holy figure.
María Mas
La Memoria Sepultada Digital drawing on paper on MD board 183 x 159.3 cm 2021 La Memoria Sepultada is a set of posters created in response to the collective amnesia over a fundamental period in our history and the role of women in it. The project explores repression in the Franco dictatorship, during which women were brutally indoctrinated by means of vile medieval practices and the devastating normalisation of misogyny. Three poster prototypes were made, alluding to wartime posters and using archive photographs and testimonies of victims. Emphasis is thus placed on specific aspects of the historical memory of women during the period, providing accounts of women who were tortured for not living in accordance with heteronormative ideals of femininity. Their active participation in society is also addressed; for instance, their key role during the war and how they were repressed for occupying male-dominated spaces. The passage of time is reflected in the way the project was carried out, as the posters were ripped off and stuck back on the wall several times, simulating the wear and deformation of history caused by the effect of social amnesia on memory. La Memoria Sepultada focuses on issues the younger generations should not forget if we do not want these tragedies to happen again – if we do not want the achievements, merits and experiences of women to fall into oblivion. I call for feminist, fair and truthful historical accounts of our struggle for freedom.
Eva Mauricio
SECOND PRIZE VÍA CRUCIS Oil on wood, printed 3D sculpture, CTG reading and fabric. 15-piece polyptych. Various sizes 2021
The Via Crucis (Way of the Cross), also known as “Via Dolorosa” or “Way of Suffering”, is one of the most widespread devotions or prayer practices among Catholics. Observed on Good Friday, it recounts the story of Jesus of Nazareth from his arrest to his crucifixion and resurrection. “Via Crucis” is also commonly used in reference to the many obstacles we encounter when pursuing certain goals. The way to the Calvary is depicted in fifteen images (or stations) of the Passion, each corresponding to a specific event in Jesus’ ordeal as told in the Gospels. Based on and named after the religious Via Crucis, the project seeks to shed light on the image that Christianity, founded on a patriarchal system, has given of women over the centuries. This is shown through quotations from the Bible, mainly the Old Testament, which to this day remains highly influential in shaping the roles assigned to women. The route, which like the original one is made up of fifteen images or stations, starts with the creation of Eve and ends with the rebirth of women. According to the UN, the 21st century must be the century of women. It is true that this is becoming a reality in some countries, but there are others where women are still faced with inequalities in relation to employment, health or rights, among many other aspects. Paraphrasing Malraux, it has been said that the 21st century will be female or it will not be. AMEN.
Ana Maya León
SECOND PRIZE Mensajeras-niñas Sculpture in alabaster, fabric and metal 15 x 10 x 6 cm 2021
These girls... with their winged feet, like Mercury, messenger of the gods… These girls, our girls, are the messengers of the emotional heritage we pass on from one generation to the next. These girls... stand witness to the female present we are building… we should protect their wings to make sure that their messages are fair and free.
Juan F. Navarro
Banco público de vientres para gestar de forma subrogada Set of printed sheets and pen Various sizes 2021
At first, the debate on surrogacy focused on the commodification of women’s bodies. “Rent-awomb” mothers are poor, in extremely vulnerable situations, and live in poor countries. When it is said that a woman rents her womb, the intention is to dehumanise her. Then, the reasoning is taken one step further: it’s like donating blood or a kidney. Advocates of this practice, of this business, have designed a new language, a new discourse focusing on the concepts of altruism, solidarity and public management of the wish to have a baby, as if it were a right. The battlefields for the normalisation of surrogacy are language and discourse: language creates a reality. The project Banco público de vientres para gestar de forma subrogada (“Public womb-for-rent bank”) provides a raw look at the new terms employed by those who equate surrogacy with an organ donation between living people that should be publicly managed. The piece is made up of a set of surrogacy contracts that any woman can read and, where applicable, sign, thus giving their consent to being included in a public womb-for-rent bank.
Úrsula Ochoa
Genio y Figura 30 digitally altered archive photographs on paper 30 x 30 cm each 2018-2021
Genio y figura (a Spanish phrase that can be translated as “being a natural”) sheds light on a number of women who were engaged in avantgarde movements like concrete art, minimalism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, Dada and others. To track them down, I have examined photographs kept in historical archives, where they usually appeared surrounded by men. It should be noted that some of the captions made no reference to the name of the woman in the photo, which is one of the ways in which, throughout the history of art, women have been made invisible. The photographic images were digitally altered, using colours to make the women stand out from the groups of men. Each photograph is accompanied by a square of the corresponding colour, containing the name of the woman. The names have been written in the same colour as the background, forcing the viewer to get closer and look for the names of the women that appear in the pictures.
Alicia Palacios-Ferri
Ce n’est pas la varicelle (This is not chickenpox) Photographs Various sizes 2020-2022
When I stared at pictures of me as a kid, I thought that the face of my younger self could, one day, become the face of my daughter. Since that woman looked at me, my photographs have changed – now, it’s like observing the daughter I will never have. Like the picture from Back to the Future. I feel like Marty McFly looking as his brothers fade away from the picture, as he himself fades away. The first time I was given a hormone injection, I shuddered as I saw the needle approaching my belly, as if I were looking down a cliff. When it was over, I looked at my belly, which had pin prick marks all over it. As if Lucio Fontana had taken it as an artistic subject. Ce n’est pas varicelle is a photographic series in which I look with new eyes at the pictures from my childhood, showing how my perspective on the child Alicia has changed since I found out about my current state.
María Reig
NULÍPARA Photographs 6 pieces sized 35 x 50 cm / 11 pieces sized 20 x 15 cm / 1 piece sized 17 x 15 cm 2021
Choosing not to become a mother made me experience an inner struggle, especially at the preliminary stage, when I had doubts. I have never felt the calling to be a mother, yet I perceive a resistance that boycotts me, questioning my choice. Now I unmask all the feelings arising from this turning point. To express the idea conveyed through this project, I have used the “empty chair” technique as the underlying concept. This technique, employed in Gestalt therapy and developed by psychologist Fritz Perls, involves placing an empty chair in front of the patient. The patient imagines that the conflict to be addressed is sitting on the chair, after which patient and conflict engage in dialogue until a conclusion is reached. Through these six large pieces, I am confronted with some of the most intense episodes in this process: raising the issue, feeling isolated and self-conscious, considering giving up, and finally accepting my choice. When making a decision, the same doubt always arises. For instance, if we say: “I feel vulnerable, I cannot go back, I feel lonely, I’m not seen…”, who are we talking about? About a mother… or about a non-mother?
Sara Vicente
Muñecas musas Acrylic on wood 11 x 6 – 3.8 x 2 cm 2020
The title Muñecas musas (“Muse dolls”) is a pun on “muñecas rusas” (“Russian dolls”), with connotations related to elements concerning or attributed to the female gender. Formally, the project consists of a set of five dolls, one inside another. Each sheds light on a tangible or intangible layer belonging to the imaginary of the female world. The pieces form a sequence, from bigger to smaller and vice versa, telling a story rooted in reality. From bigger to smaller: 1st - Brands. An ironic look at the relationship between women and advertising, modifying the logos of recognisable commercial brands. This piece is concerned with the outside, with the elements that precede the body. Those we can see, and those that are invisible. 2nd - Body. The female figure is represented in relation to itself or to other people, also focusing on how it is projected onto them. The aesthetics is that of Russian dolls, highlighting the social demands imposed upon women’s bodies. 3rd - Mind. A hybrid between a brain and a maze, showing the conception of a universe of one’s own. 4th - Dreams. This piece depicts an element of geographic location set against a dreamlike background, creating a real setting for a world of dreams. 5th - Blank page. The last piece is the first page – a blank page for us to write our own story.
