Museo de Mujeres

 

This book displays recent drawings and paintings (2008-2010) by Marisa Polin, a Mexican artist living in Holland. The texts were written by Roos van Put, an art critic and editor-in-chief of the Dutch art magazine Kunstbeeld, and José Springer, Mexican cultural attaché in Holland and editor-in-chief of the digital magazine Réplica 21. The 48-page book contains 160 illustrations in continuous friezes with playful solutions such as dividing the drawings over different pages or an additional book cover that accentuates the common denominator of the work – that it is hidden.

 

The distinctive colors and brushstrokes of the famous portraits of the artist are present in the paintings, and contrast with the economy of line and color of the drawings.

 

The subjects of the book and exhibition reflect current affairs, such as the social and political conflict with Islamic cultures in Europe. The cover of the book features a balaclava, representing the multiple semantics of this item of clothing, which can hide criminals, protestors or policemen, but also an innocent mountain climber.

 

Young persons wishing to demonstrate their rebellion and individuality with a hood, and who end up part of the group that uses the hood as a uniform, represent an individual-group dichotomy. Another subject present is violence, a subject Polin had to confront during an earlier stay in Mexico, which became even more relevant a year and a half later. The social subjects are alternated with abstract elements such as camouflage patterns, which are part of a visual reference of violence, transformed into the digital drawings Fruit Vendors.

 

In the exhibition, the most representative series is Nothing to Hide, altered digital photographs through which the artist aims to express her powerlessness and loss of freedom and rights after “9/11”.