The artist Marisol Mendez describes a powerful image from her series titled “Mother” (Madre). She explains that within this series, she posed a question to her subjects: “Do you feel more like a Mary Magdalene or a Virgin Mary? It’s always a fun question to ask.”
Mendez recounts that the inspiration for this specific photograph came to her in a dream, much like Paul McCartney’s famous account of composing “Yesterday.” She dreamt of a figure that was “half woman-half animal, standing alone in the middle of a field, with trees surrounding her.”
The “Madre” series was an exploration of how womanhood is portrayed. Mendez observed that media in Bolivia typically presents women in very traditional, feminine roles. She notes the societal tendency to label a woman displaying more masculine attributes as lesbian, highlighting a lack of nuance in the perception of female identity.
English Translation:
The artist Marisol Mendez describes a powerful image from her series titled “Mother.” She explains that within this series, she posed a question to her subjects: “Do you feel more like a Mary Magdalene or a Virgin Mary? It’s always a fun question to ask.”
Mendez recounts that the inspiration for this specific photograph came to her in a dream, much like Paul McCartney’s famous account of composing “Yesterday.” She dreamt of a figure that was “half woman-half animal, standing alone in the middle of a field, with trees surrounding her.”
The “Madre” series was an exploration of how womanhood is portrayed. Mendez observed that media in Bolivia typically presents women in very traditional, feminine roles. She notes the societal tendency to label a woman displaying more masculine attributes as lesbian, highlighting a lack of nuance in the perception of female identity.