“When I was little I was discriminated once morest while at school. I did not have the joy of going to parade because for that we had to wear a uniform since all girls must wear uniforms. My mother told me: ‘I’m not going to make one for you because I don’t have money, I’m going to make you a güipil envelope, so you can identify yourself.’ When I arrived at school they told me I mightn’t parade…”, says the Kaqchikel Mayan artist Paula Nicho Cúmez, an anecdote from which she was inspired for one of her works exhibited at the 60th Venice Biennale.
Worked in oil on canvas, Nicho, originally from San Juan Comalapa, tells what the process of creating and exhibiting her works in this international art exhibition has been like for her. “I have always liked to paint and little by little I am making known what I like to do and that is why I am very grateful for everything that is happening to me.”
There are five works by the artist on display in the exhibition, one titled Nature and the other four belong to a series called My Second Skinin which the artist portrays, in her words, “tattooed women” with a slightly deeper meaning.
In his paintings, Nicho portrays women with designs on their skin that, beyond being tattoos, are stories, colors and fabric designs from different places of origin in Guatemala.
Among the paintings, for example, a woman is shown knitting while reflecting on her “second skin” tattoos with colors and expressions typical of Guatemalan culture.
“… my mother got angry with the director when they didn’t let me parade and she told me: ‘let’s go a hundred, because here people think that we do not have the right to wear our clothing.’ Being a little older I realized that this was discrimination and that it happened in many places in Guatemala, since in schools and even universities there was no freedom for indigenous people; and it caused me a lot of pain that people think that the clothing is worthless. Each town has its own clothing and colors and I wanted to capture this in my works,” says Nicho.
The artist transformed that pain into art and her works, presented in this exhibition, show women aware of their own power, highlighting the beauty of Mayan textile design.
“We have to continue working and fighting to achieve a future, because each person has dreams and different ways of seeing life, we have to be proud of where we come from and use art to capture that story,” concludes the artist.
This is the first time that Nicho is presented at the Art Biennial and along with it, works by Guatemalans Margarita Azurdia, Carlos Mérida, Andrés Curruchich and Rosa Elena Curruchich are also exhibited.
The exhibition will be available until Sunday, November 24 in the Central Pavilion of the Biennale as part of the international exhibition “Foreigners Everywhere,” curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa in Venice, Italy.
#work #Paula #Nicho #Cúmez #arrives #Italy
