Born in 1954 in Mexico City, Monica Mayer initially trained at Escuela Nacional des Artes Plasticas and then went on to study in the US at Goddard College and earned a master's degree in Sociology of Art. She co-founded the first feminist art collective in Mexico with Maris Bustamante: Polvo de Gallina Negra (Black Hen Powder). The name signified "protection from patriarchal magic which strives to make women disappear".
Mayer is a very diverse artist, her talents include drawing, photography, performance and conceptual art, digital graphics, curator, art critic and theorist among other endeavors. She wrote a column for Mexican newspaper El Universal for 20 years. In 1989 in collaboration with Victor Lerma, she created an ongoing conceptual piece of newspaper articles on contemporary Mexican art topics titled Pinto mi Raya ( literal translation...I Paint my Line). This project is an attempt to "stimulate the art system in Mexico" with workshops, performances, exhibits, in addition to the archived articles.
Another conceptual piece, "El Tendedero" is a clothesline with ballots posted allowing the spectator to take a look at and comment on various issues dealing with social, feminist and cultural concerns. An example of the posts is: "As a woman, what I hate most about my city is..." It was first displayed in Mexico in 1977 and has continued in the US. The ever changing exhibit is shown below.
No comments:
Post a Comment