City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2017 Mónica Mayer: Translocality and the Development of Feminist Art in Contemporary Mexico Alberto McKelligan Hernandez The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1775 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] MÓNICA MAYER: TRANSLOCALITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FEMINIST ART IN CONTEMPORARY MEXICO by ALBERTO MCKELLIGAN HERNÁNDEZ A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 ©2017 ALBERTO MCKELLIGAN HERNÁNDEZ All Rights Reserved This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Anna Indych-López Chair of Examining Committee Date Rachel Kousser Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Katherine Manthorne Rafael de la Dehesa Karen Cordero Reiman THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK ABSTRACT MÓNICA MAYER: TRANSLOCALITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FEMINIST ART IN CONTEMPORARY MEXICO Advisor: Professor Anna Indych-López This dissertation focuses on Mónica Mayer (b. Mexico City, 1954), analyzing her work to understand the role played by the artistic and activist exchanges between feminists from Mexico City and Los Angeles in the development of feminist art in Mexico from the 1970s to the present. While scholars and curators are increasingly drawing attention to Mayer’s large body of work, which includes prints, drawings, installations, and public art interventions, the available literature emphasizes her connections to other artists working in her home country, positioning her artistic production within narratives of contemporary Mexican art.1 In contrast, this dissertation foregrounds Mayer’s position within different artistic circuits, examining how the artist strategically adapted the model of feminist art developed by the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW) in the 1970s to the specific conditions of Mexico City’s art world. This study employs the concept of translocal translation to interpret her work as a deliberate artistic and political strategy that shaped the scope and direction of feminist art in her home country and abroad. Through her artistic negotiations, Mayer explored the role of gender in the visual arts of Mexico, thereby challenging the social structures that shaped women’s experiences in her home country. Her work expanded the repertoire of feminist artistic production, and recognizing her 1 See Edward J. McCaughan, “Navigating the Labyrinth of Silence: Feminist Artists in Mexico,” Social Justice 34, no. 1 (107) (2007): 44–62; Deborah Cullen, ed., Arte No Es Vida: Actions by Artists of the Americas, 1960-2000 (New York: El Museo del Barrio, 2008); Ekaterina Álvarez Romero, ed., When in Doubt... Ask: A Retrocollective Exhibit of Mónica Mayer (Mexico City: Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2016). iv contributions challenges existing narratives of a universal feminist art movement based in the United States and Europe. This study thus develops an understanding of feminist art in Mexico within a larger translocal arena that remains absent in the available literature, highlighting Mayer’s role as a mediator of different artistic and activist models circulating in Mexico City and Los Angeles. My examination also emphasizes the ways in which Mayer challenged representations of femininity and maternity in the Mexican artistic canon. Through her artistic projects, the artist developed a sustained critique of the representational systems that aided in the construction of women’s social roles. Mayer’s projects challenged the idealized visions of mujeres abnegadas, or passive selfless women, that emerged in post-revolutionary visual culture but continued to shape understandings of gender in Mexican society during the late twentieth century. This dissertation analyzes the numerous collaborative artistic projects developed by Mayer, including her work in feminist art collectives such as Tlacuilas y Retrateras (Women Scribes and Portraitists) and Polvo de Gallina Negra (Black Hen Powder), as well as the archival project of Pinto mi Raya (I Draw My Line). These art collectives further allowed Mayer to adapt the FSW model of artistic practice, developing a form of feminist art that questioned that questioned the hierarchical structures of Mexican society. Her artistic production, or translocal translations, shaped the scope and trajectory of feminist art in her home country, serving as a powerful model that would inspire subsequent generations of women artists, activists, and scholars. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the helpful guidance of my adviser, Prof. Anna Indych-López; I am truly grateful for her support in this project, and her scholarship on the arts of Mexico continues to be an inspiration for my own work. I am also grateful to my other readers, Prof. Katherine Manthorne, Prof. Rafael de la Dehesa, and Prof. Karen Cordero Reiman, for their helpful feedback and suggestions. I would like to extend my gratitude towards the Art History Department of the Graduate Center, and the numerous professors whose perspectives contributed to the development of this project. I also want to thank the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies (CLACLS) of the Graduate Center; their financial support was an immeasurable help as I completed dissertation research in Mexico City and Los Angeles. In addition, thank you to all the friends who facilitated numerous trips between Ohio, New York, and California as I completed this dissertation: Juan Piñón, Thomas Gunther, and Sarah Reeves. To my peers at the Graduate Center who helped me in this project, thank you; I particularly want to mention Arden Decker Parks, María Steverlynck, and Whitney Thompson for their help. Thank you to my colleagues at the CUNY Research Foundation, including my supervisor, Ashleigh Thompson. I also want to acknowledge my colleagues and students in the women’s studies programs of Hunter College and The University of Virginia; their insights and queries guided me as I completed the final version of this document. In addition, thank you to the helpful staff at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, California. I wish to extend a warm thank you to artists Mónica Mayer and Víctor Lerma, as well as Yuruen Lerma and Jorge Arreola Barraza; thank you for graciously sharing your time and vi knowledge. In addition, I extend my gratitude towards Prof. Dina Comisarenco Mirkin from the Universidad Iberoamericana. A mis padres, Dr. Patricio McKelligan Barreda y Dra. María de Jesús Hernández Escobedo, por todo su apoyo en mis estudios a través de los años, les dedico este proyecto. To my other family members, Pato, Gaby, Cosme, Daniel and Alejandra, thank you. And finally, thanks to my spouse, Doug Meyer, for his unwavering support, help, and love, and for letting me know that it would all be ok, numerous times a day, especially when most needed. vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1.1. Registration form, Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, 1972. .............................. 253 Figure 1.2. Proceso Pentágono, Pentágono, 1977. Installation presented at the Paris Youth Biennial X. .................................................................................................................................. 254 Figure 1.3. Photograph of a Tepito Arte Acá Mural, 1979. ....................................................... 255 Figure 1.4. José Guadalupe Posada, Soldadera maderista, c. 1910. ......................................... 256 Figure 1.5. Photograph of soldaderas in training, c. 1910. ....................................................... 257 Figure 1.6. Photograph of soldaderas in training, c. 1910. ....................................................... 258 Figure 1.7. Frente Único Pro-Derechos de la Mujer protestors on the Zócalo, Mexico City. 259 Figure 1.8. Newspaper clipping, showing Mónica Mayer at a protest organized by the Coalición de Mujeres Feministas, demanding the legalization of abortion in Mexico, 1977. Mexico City. ..................................................................................................................................................... 260 Figure 1.9. First World Conference on Women, Mexico City, 1975. ....................................... 261 Figure 1.10. Catalogue cover of “La mujer como creadora y tema del arte,” 1975. ................. 262 Figure 1.11. Ignacio Rosas, Tomasa Venegas, c. 1910. Oil on canvas..................................... 263 Figure 1.12. Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Portrait of Mrs. Belinda Palavicini, 1915. .................. 264 Figure 1.13. Diego Rivera, La molendera, 1924. ...................................................................... 265 Figure 1.14. María Izquierdo, El alhajero (The Jewel Box), 1942. ........................................... 266 Figure 1.15. Remedios Varo, Presencia inquietante (Unsettling Presence), 1959. .................. 267 Figure 1.16. Frida Kahlo, Las dos fridas (The Two Fridas), 1939. ..........................................