What does a Woman Want?

Highlights of the exhibition

”The great question that has never been answered and which I have not been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul is “What does a woman want?”
Sigmund Freud

This exhibit explores issues of desire a postmodern woman encounters in this global era. Through the artworks presented, this show also attempts to find out what is it a woman really wants. Taking Sigmund Freud’s question What does a Woman Wants? as a point of departure, this exhibit attempts to define desire from a woman’s perspective. Merriam-Webster defines desire as “a strong sexual feeling or appetite.” Further, to want means “wanting something or wishing something to happen,” intrinsic to it is the idea of something missing. This points to a woman’s lack to which Freud gave his phallic interpretation.

In Para besarte mejor (The Better to Kiss You With), a video-performance, Jessica Lagunas puts lipstick on her lips for an hour. The work’s title is inspired in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The artist deals with issues of desire, and seduction. Lagunas’ exercise becomes futile turning masquerade and seduction into a parody.

Lina Puerta’s Frustraciones y deseos (Desires and Frustrations) is an installation of stoneware clay, ink, and found objects. Placed in a bucket, vulva shapes filled with small dolls and cowry shells allude to the concepts of fertility and women as the bearers of children.

My Gestalt by Maria Díaz is a scan rendition of her own vagina. A lithography printed on wall paper, and red ink is flipped 180 degrees. Once digitalized, this organic image turns into geometric forms. Based on Gestalt psychology, it reveals female genitalia images for public display.

Patricia Tinajero in This is What I Really Want! shows a scale covered with spotted skin of a feline animal. The image depicts part of a woman’s feet standing on the scale. In this artwork, Tinajero deals with issues of body image and today’s obsession with body weight.

Camilla Newhagen’s Flowers of Iraq is an installation of white daisies spread on the wall like a patch of flowers. As a homage, Newhagen dedicates each petal to a child killed in the Iraqi war. Made of Venetian lace, this work alludes to war, death, and destruction, but it also refers to nature, renewal and hope.

In Fabricated Dreams, Paz de la Calzada presents a digital print of a woman’s arm holding a hair dryer. Made of fabric, the hair dryer is symbolic of the phallus. The artist with wry humor appropriates a beauty object which stands for male power to call attention to gender issues.

Hrafnhildur Sigurðardóttir in Time Out displays three sleeveless shirts hanging on a string. Made of Japanese, rice paper, these intricate, diaphanous cutout shapes refer to absent female bodies. This point to art historical underpinnings where the absent women are reminiscent of the Three Graces in classical art. They are taking a break as if they just want to be left alone.

The objects presented in What does a Woman Wants? offer complex responses to the issue of desire. The artists above in sophisticated ways not only address desire, but they also convey their preoccupations with social, and political aspects. Revealing a feminist sensibility, these contemporary artworks appeal to a global audience demonstrating that they lack nothing at all.

Cecilia Nuín --curator



Participating Artists: Blanka Amezkua Susu Attar Paz del la Calzada Maria Díaz Gina Jacupke Jessica Lagunas Camilla Newhagen Lina Puerta Hrafnhildur Sigurðardóttir Anna Simson Patricia Tinajero Cristina Velázquez