las iluministas - alicia salgado & tallulah lines, mexico
Tallulah Lines
Las Iluministas invites feminist artist-activists in Mexico to document their experiences during COVID-19. They will be asked to consider the particular gender-based challenges arising during COVID-19 and to reflect on their experiences as artist-activists in this climate of increased risk for women, yet decreased opportunity to respond with protest. Submissions from artist-activists will be curated in an online gallery. Images will be uploaded regularly and selected images will be converted into line drawings for adults to download and colour in.
At the end of the project, a downloadable colouring book will be created, to draw the project to a close and reflect on learning from the project.
It is expected that artist-activists will address themes including politicised self and collective care, the impossibility of organising public protests, the surge in domestic violence, increasing futility of activist street art, the appropriation COVID-19 to increase smear campaigns against feminist activists in mainstream and social media, and hopes for the future.
By participating in Las Iluministas, feminist artist-activists have the opportunity to a) connect with other feminist artists across the country, facilitating new networks for future collaboration b) access a platform through which to promote their work c) participate in a cathartic and therapeutic creative process by creating art which expresses present concerns related to COVID-19 and d) the possibility to be remunerated for their art.
Alicia Salgado is a Mexican feminist psychologist, doula, and activist, and co-founder of Las Panas, is a feminist organisation based in a low-income zone in Mexico City. Tallulah Lines is a visual artist who uses art as a form of activism, focusing mainly on feminist, decolonial themes.
Art Gallery
The Las Iluministas online art gallery was launched on Friday 10th July. The artwork has been divided into 5 key themes and is displayed in 5 ‘galleries’. Together they narrate the strange reality that we are living in these unprecedented times and permit us to see what is happening behind closed doors in Mexico. The themes are:
Gender Violence
Yazmin Vargas Gomez, Abyección
The Work of Women: The Increasing Responsibility of Caring
GifHackFeministas (Actias Luna, Alina Sánchez, Laura Arlotti)
Introspection
Daniela Alicia Jáuregui Servin, Saliendo De La Cueva
Feminist Activism on the Ground: Self-Care and Collective Care as Political Tools
Burrito de Langosta, Seguimos Resistiendo
A Cry for a Better Future: For Me, For You, and For Everyone
Valeria García Kempis, El Fuego Que Florece
Colectiva Hijas de la Luna – Grabados, Sin Silencio Sin Ausencia
Colouring Book
A selection of artworks from this project have been compiled into a colouring book which is free to download.
Melenanegra, Autocuidado Es Militancia y El Mundo Se Está Moviendo
Catalogue
Read interviews with all contributing artists discussing their artwork and their feminist activism.
Aleida Bernal, Luz en la Oscuridad