Body image terrorism

[singlepic id=54 w=320 h=240 float=left]MUA, Museo de la Universidad de Alicante, has 4 wonderful spaces (usually showing contemporary art) that are always empty of people. It must be because it’s well off the beaten track, but the handful of times that I’ve been there since I discovered it (I think in 2002), have offered excellent exhibitions: Joan Fontcuberta, Albert Agulló, Damià Diaz and a number of other artists whose name I have regrettably forgotten.

All 4 current exhibitions are typically solid. Mulier Mulieris is the one I preferred. A yearly competition, some of this years’ works are not highly challenging, but the good ones made me laugh or cringe, either of which is what you want art to do, unless it wows you with aesthetic emotion. Rustha Luna Pozzi-Escot is the artist in this self-portrait as a make-up terrorist. Playing  stereotypes, she dresses up as a cowgirl, a samurai, etc. using lipsticks, eyeshadow and other cosmetics-in-plastic as ammunition. I’m very amused by the idea that so-called ‘beauty products’ can be construed as weapons so literally.

The next installation really made me laugh out loud. Sandra March’s La Silla de la Reina, eloquently subtitled ‘distribution and consumption of myths’, is a wall display divided in sections: art, science, politics, literature, music, etc. Columns of little packaged chairs, each in the style of a woman known for her contributions to the field, feature a humourous biography, a photo and a title. A toy shop would have many products packaged in a similar way, just not half as witty. From the Guerrilla Girls to Mata Hari, discover female wisdom dating back two millenia, and educate yourself with this mini-encyclopedia of herstory.

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Yolanda Dominguez, in her work below, mixes the fun (sarcastic?) use of toys with the criticism of make-up as a constraint in the form of photographs that represent, she explains, the nourishment of education. These dishes of mock omelette contain hyperpink toys (for girls only!), lipsticks and all sorts of ‘girlie’ objects. Eat your eyes out.

A harsher view of what being a woman means is given by Rosa Mascaró’s videos inspired by Tanzania, where the oldest known human footprints are found, and where sex slaves and female genital mutilation are also, deplorably, still found.

#España #Diversity #WomenArtists #Feminism #Humour