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May 16th & 26th, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
Artwork by artist Carmen Mardónez
Image 1: “Emergence” completed on May 26th, 2020.
Image 2: Completed on May 16th, 2020
A note from the artist: “Before I even menstruated for the first time, I had already been taught in my school how to cook, sew, knit, and embroider. Regardless of what I wanted to be as a grown-up, I had to have the necessary skills to become a good wife and mother. I was told to learn how to embroider canonically to craft beautiful dresses for my future daughters (!!).
When I became a mother, all my rebellion, hidden in the depths of myself, irremediably exploded. I refused to be what I had been trained for. My artistic work then became another way of expressing my resistance. The stitches lost the tidiness of the selfless mother and became wild and unpredictable, privileging the exploration of color and movement over a finished technique and detail.
Paradoxically, instead of being housework, my practice as an embroidery artist makes me a bad wife and mother, because it does not meet the practical needs and takes away hours of housekeeping, diverting me from the absolute dedication to the upbringing of my son.”