Sleep, 9 x 12 inches, Oil on Canvas, October 1993 (Private Collection)

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.

Lollipop, 7 x 10 inches, Sketch Conte Crayon & Charcoal on Paper, November 2010

Abstract:
This is the first academic study of the artist Pilar Acevedo (born in Mexico and raised in Chicago), and more specifically of her Fragmentos exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago (2013–2014). It proposes that Acevedo’s art tackles the challenge of bearing witness to the physical and psychological effects of child abuse in ways that help us to move beyond existing concerns within trauma theory and examines why art which uses shocking images is not effective either as art or as a call to action. This article identifies the strategies Acevedo employs to encourage the viewer to participate actively in the construction of meaning whilst avoiding turning trauma into a spectacle that makes us turn away or feeds our voyeuristic fascination with pain. The techniques foregrounded include: firstly, the use of fragmented dolls as signifiers that draw on, but also depart from, the work of Hans Bellmer and Cindy Sherman and the traditions of surrealism and abject art; secondly, a multimedia and intermedia approach that opens up new ways of seeing and experiencing art whereby the viewer is invited to piece together the fragmented narratives in a way that reflects the disruption of memory by trauma, and the work of psychoanalysis.

Multimedia Women and Digital Cultural Studies

Working with Dr Jane Lavery (University of Southampton) I have been studying the growing number of Spanish American women writers and artists who are working across different media and who are embracing the opportunities as well as the challenges of digital culture.

Our understanding of ‘multimedia’, which incorporates both intermedia and transmedia practices, is alert to the political significance of such strategies and so, for us and, it seems to us, for our Spanish American authors and artists, multimedia is a political choice.
The first output from this project was an article on the multimedia work of Guatemalan performance artist Regina Jose Galindo published in Bulletin of Latin American Research (2012). Our most recent work examines the work of Chilean Eli Neira.

I have a (forthcoming) article on the work of Pilar Acevedo entitled ‘Bearing Witness to Child Abuse and Trauma in Pilar Acevedo’s Multimedia ‘Fragmentos’ Exhibition’.

We are now working with a group of other academics to try to map the extent and significance of this trend for Spanish American women writers and artists to work across different media.

The University of Southampton is delighted to host the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS) for its annual conference on 22-23 March 2018 at the University’s Winchester campus.
The SLAS was founded in 1964 and is one of the leading Latin American studies organizations in the world. Annual conferences regularly gather scholars and students from the UK and abroad.

The theme of the 2018 SLAS Conference is: Latin American Studies Around the World


The Multimedia Works of Contemporary Spanish American
Women Writers and Artists

This exhibit consists of a short 5-10 minute video that we will show on a loop and a series of panels showcasing the work of contemporary Spanish American women artists and writers who no longer seem to feel bound by the traditional boundaries of genre, gender or nation. The transgressive thrust which defines their work has led these women to seek out new forms of expression which, we believe, require the new critical approaches and concepts we aim to develop as part of our project and in dialogue with the women themselves. The exciting generation of multimedia practitioners whose work will be on show produce works which straddle, are between or cross over diverse genres/forms. Whilst many of these women consider themselves primarily as writers or artists (poets, singers, performance artists, visual artists etc), they refuse to be confined by these labels of expertise or genre and share an interest in using diverse multimedia forms which they perceive as enriching their artistic and literary practices.

The roundtable which will accompany the exhibit will include a discussion of the project and its findings to dates, led by Dr Sarah Bowskill and Dr Jane Lavery, as well a live (online) performance by Lucia Grossberger Morales called ‘Love Notes to the Planet’.
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​The roundtable will be preceded by a tour of the exhibit. Please join us at La Rotunda during the coffee break.

Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Mexican Art

TILACA Y FLACA ES LA CALACA
Opening reception on Friday, September 22, 2017 6pm to 8:30pm
Please note, doors open at 6pm. on September 22nd, and the exhibition will not be open prior to that time.

Exhibition continues through December 10.

The Day of the Dead is one of the most stunning and important living traditions in Mexico, classified in 2003 by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Mexican community north of the US/Mexico border conserves and participates in the traditions of Day of the Dead by gathering in cultural spaces such as the Museum to honor and remember loved ones no longer present. Mexican artists on both sides of the border frequently express a sense of continuity and cultural identity in their works of art. Fine art and folk art are integrated into this exhibition to bring to life a Mexican celebration that bridges borders.

El Día de muertos es una de las más bellas e importantes tradiciones vivas de México, la cual es considerada por la UNESCO (Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura), desde el año 2003, Obra maestra del patrimonio cultural de la humanidad. La comunidad mexicana del lado norte de la frontera México/EE.UU., preserva y participa de la tradición del Día de muertos reuniéndose en espacios culturales como el museo para celebrar y recordar a los seres amados que ya no están aquí. El sentido de continuidad e identidad cultural se manifiesta en obras de arte de artistas mexicanos de los dos lados de la frontera. El arte visual y el arte popular se reúnen en esta exposición para dar vida a una celebración mexicana que ha traspasado fronteras.

Curated by Dolores Mercado

The House on Mango Street: Artists Interpret Community
April 30 – September 28
Traveling to the NHCC from the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, this exhibition is inspired by the novel The House on Mango Street by the accomplished Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. The contemporary works of art on display in the exhibition highlight many of the issues facing adolescents growing up in urban areas. The intended result is for individuals from diverse neighborhoods, cities, ethnic backgrounds and walks of life to identify commonalities in their coming of age experiences.

I See Red, 36 x 56 inches, Mixed Media, August 2013 (National Museum of Mexican Art Collection)

The National Museum of Mexican Art presents a new exhibition inspired by the novel The House on Mango Street by the accomplished Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. The contemporary works of art on display are based on some of the central topics brought to light in this consciousness-raising novel.

Narrated in a series of vignettes, the book tells the story of a young girl growing up in a Latino neighborhood of Chicago.
The House on Mango Street, published in 1984, continues to resonate with readers from all walks of life and is read in classrooms everywhere – from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country. The exhibition, like the novel, highlights many of the issues facing adolescents growing up in urban areas. The visual artists in the exhibition explore experiences prevalent in working class neighborhoods across the U.S. The intended result is for individuals from diverse neighborhoods, cities, ethnic backgrounds and walks of life to identify commonalities in their coming of age experiences.
The works of art feature some of the major themes of the book, including hope, personal dreams, hardship, disillusionment, family, community, home, identity, relationships, independence, coming of age, and storytelling. The NMMA is honored to have the participation of such a notable presence as Sandra Cisneros in this exhibition.