 Sleep, 9 x 12 inches, Oil on Canvas, October 1993 Sexual abuse can happen across all ages, but molestation is strictly limited to younger children. Because a child’s penis or vagina is too small for physical penetration, molestation occurs when the child is "forced to perform oral sex, touched in an inappropriate manner, and/or made to watch the adult masturbate. Sexual abuse happens over a longer period of time and involves actual physical penetration, in addition to everything that is included in molestation. The above quote is from: http://www.kidslivesafe.com/child-safety/sexual-molestation-vs-sexual-abuse A few years ago, I came across a video on the internet about a Peruvian girl by the name of Lina Medina who gave birth at the age of 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days. The focus of that particular documentary was about the pregnancy, her age and the medical condition called "precocious puberty", which enabled the pregnancy at such a young age. So, this was a case of sexual abuse and yet, there was absolutely NO discussion about the abuse or the man who abused Lina and finally impregnated her. She was a child of 4 years of age, still playing with dolls, and had no idea what was being done to her. How can a 4 year old even begin to wrap her mind around such a thing? Why, as a society, were we more consumed by the oddity of the age of the pregnancy rather than being outraged and disgusted by the action of the male who perpetrated such a violation on a child? This was in 1939 and yet, this abuse continues; children are still being neglected and sexually abused and molested.  A picture is worth a thousand words. This is a picture of Lina Medina and her son, Gerardo. Here's the harsh reality and hopefully, food for thought and ultimately, a call to action:
For a very informative PDF, Child Sexual Abuse Statistics, go to Darkness to Light at: https://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/all_statistics_20150619.pdf  Lollipop, 7 x 10 inches, Sketch Conte Crayon & Charcoal on Paper, November 2010 Abstract: The above abstract was written by Dr. Bowskill and obtained from the below link.
I am elated that the article, Bearing Witness to Child Abuse and Trauma in Pilar Acevedo's Multimedia Fragmentos Exhibition, is now available online with the Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies. . https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24741604.2018.1453017 The following is from Dr. Sarah Bowskill's webiste: https://sarahbowskill.net/multimedia-women Multimedia Women and Digital Cultural Studies Some time ago, I wrote several vignettes about my family's migration north from Mexico City to Kankakee, Illinois—of all places. I have begun a series of paintings inspired by these stories. I created collages for each vignette and then larger scale paintings. In the case of Fig Tree Girl, I created a small oil painting as well, which is shown below.  Al Norte in a Pink Cadillac, 5 x 4 inches, Collage, June 2014  Fig Tree Girl, 16 x 12 inches, Oil and Canvas (In Progress) I am honored to have been invited to participate in the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS) Annual Conference, March 22-23, 2018, at the University of Southampton's Winchester campus. where a number of Latin American female artists will be discussing their work and their creative process. Because I am unable to attend, I will be sending this video in my place.
I took this video in LA’s MoMA as I stood on the steps leading to the lower level—this was all very impromptu. The piece, I Will Not Make Aby More Boring Art, was created by John Baldessari in 1971. My solo exhibit, Fragmentos, which was curated by Dolores Mercado of the National Museum of Mexican Art opened in January of 2014 and closed in July of that same year. Just before it closed, I was informed that my husband, David Spargur, had stage IV prostate cancer so advanced that doctors offered us very little hope. In fact, the most hope they gave us, if he agreed to a rigorous treatment of radiation, chemo, and hormone therapy, was a possible 3 years of life. Needless to say, David agreed to this—much to my dismay. I say this because I wanted him to pursue something less traditional and far less barbaric, but it was his life and his decision to make. After seeking a second opinion at Mayo Clinic and being told that they concurred with his local doctor's prognosis and proposed treatment, his battle began in September of 2014. I stopped making art, focused on caring for David, and embarked on a futile attempt to keep him alive by changing his diet and giving him supplements—foolishness on my part because this monster of a disease was so far beyond my control that it didn’t help David at all—just me. Shortly after completing the treatment, the prostate cancer differentiated into a much more aggressive disease called neuroendocrine cancer. Consequently, David passed away on June 26, 2015. Watching his health decline and finally losing him had a numbing affect in some ways, yet in other ways, I felt more emotions than I ever imagined I could feel and still endure life here on earth. For certain, I felt incapable of anything creative until March of 2017, when I spoke with Dolores Mercado, curator at the National Museum of Mexican Art. During that conversation Ms. Mercado invited me to participate in this year's Day of the Dead exhibit. She suggested that creating an ofrenda for David could result in a cathartic experience for me. As she quietly spoke, I listened and before she could finish telling me to think about it, I interrupted her and told her that I wanted to participate. When I got off the phone, the creative process began—thoughts, sketches, drawings, and inspiration from an excerpt of Lorca’s Balada de la placeta. As Dolores predicted, it was indeed cathartic from beginning to end. So, yes—I finished and I hope that you can see it. The following is information about the exhibit:  Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Mexican Art TILACA Y FLACA ES LA CALACA Pilar Acevedo
Welcome Home Mixed Media 6.75’H x 6’W x 3.89’D Welcome Home was created in memory of my husband, David Spargur, who passed away on June 26, 2015. It was my desire to create a piece that would be contemporary in its expression, yet be based on the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead. David’s portrait, his personal belongings, the skulls, candles, crucifix, papel picado, incense, favorite food and drink are some elements typically found in a Mexican Day of the Dead ofrenda. With regard to contemporary expression, I often use found objects in my work and in this case, the primary object is a hall tree. It was chosen because I felt it appropriate in that it is used in a home to place keys, hats, umbrellas, etc., when one returns home--this ties into the belief that on the Day of the Dead, the deceased return to their homes to visit their loved ones who remain here on earth and I imagine David returning home as he did in life. "I See Red", which is now part of the National Museum of Mexican Art's permanent collection, will be traveling to the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico! It is a privilege to be in the exhibit, The House on Mango Street: Artists Interpret Community, along with so many talented artists from the U.S. and Mexico.   The House on Mango Street: Artists Interpret Community |
Archives
April 2018
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed