WOMEN IN ALL THEIR DIVERSTY Art Exhibition Opens December 9

The AMA | Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States and the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the OAS present WOMEN IN ALL THEIR DIVERSITY.

Curated by Marco Polo Juárez Cruz, this exhibition celebrates the artistic production of eighteen Mexican artists who, by presenting varied reflections on women's identities, have contributed to the construction of the national art scene in the 20th and 21st centuries. Increased integration of women artists into visible discourse has further verified their crucial roles in cultural transformations of Mexico, while expanding their participation in the arts beyond private study. The social movements of the sixties nurtured the protagonic characteristics of Mexican artists in the conformation of various artistic movements, through the lenses of galleries and museums, art critics and dealers, and activities that continue to develop today.

Made up of works from the AMA | Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States (OAS) art collection and from the Kimberly Collection of the Mexico Cultural Institute in Washington, DC, Women in All their Diversity recognizes the pluralistic nature of women and the intersections created under heterogeneous social, economic, and cultural conditions. By celebrating the diversity of women, we also offer a meeting point from which to continue the dialog on actions necessary to combat discrimination. To this end, we present extracts from the Inter-American Convention Against all Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance (CIDI), adopted by the OAS General Assembly in 2013 and made law with its ratification by Mexico on January 21, 2020. CIDI defines different forms of discrimination and recognizes the limitations present in the conjunction of factors such as nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, language, social origin, socioeconomic position, migratory status, and disability, among others. We can endorse its importance as a guiding principle of public policies favoring women's rights.

Celebrating diversity goes beyond continuing to recognize the artistic contributions of women, as a single-minded aspiration that limits the understanding of the plurality of their artistic interests, personal motivations, not to mention dialogs with their men counterparts. The artists in this exhibition sparked discussions around national identity, new materials, and conceptions of public art. Additionally, the works in the exhibition also explore new ways of representing the body, womanhood, and roles of women within society. Women in All their Diversity also celebrates Mexican women born beyond the national territory or who found in Mexico a refuge from wars and dictatorships, a redefined place offering a space to practice and promote artistic production. The presence of varied techniques and ways of understanding artistic creation exemplifies the preponderant role of women in the arts and invites us to honor their legacies, promoting individual and collective actions that respect their rights and contribute to the achievement of substantive gender equality, an indispensable condition for development and democracy.

List of artists:

Daisy Ascher

Leonora Carrington

Pilar Castañeda

Olga Costa

Olga Dondé

Daniela Edburg

Helen Escobedo

Maria E. Figueroa

Becky Guttin

Camila Hernandez

Graciela Iturbide

Tanya Kohn

Joy Laville

Carol Miller

Teresa Olabuenga

Marta Palau

Carla Rippey

Patricia Torres

Marco Polo Juárez Cruz is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Art History program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is studying the emergence and consolidation of abstraction in the distinct artistic groups across the Americas, and its relationship with cultural policies, museums, literature, and religion. Before enrolling at UMD, he was the Head of the Exhibitions Department in the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares and participated in curatorial projects for the Fonart, in Mexico City.

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