Canon

At Apertura 2021, NoguerasBlanchard presents a new project by the Argentine artist Mercedes Azpilicueta. The exhibition will offer a speculative view of Catalina de Erauso, popularly known as the Monja Alférez, one of the most legendary and controversial figures of the Spanish Golden Age. At the beginning of the 17th century, Erauso escaped religious life in the Basque Country and traveled to the New World, where she lived under various male identities and became a ruthless conqueror in the service of the Spanish Empire, obtaining the Pope's blessing to pursue life as a man.

Woven in a Jacquard tapestry, the exhibition’s central work evokes a feverish vision of colonial encounters. Its title, Abya Yala (Guna for ‘ripe land’), refers to a proposed alternative name for the Americas used among indigenous peoples. The work is the result of a collection of archival images from historical maps, prints and colonial art; it is displayed on a display inspired by the history of folding screens, a luxury item that developed as an adaptation of Japanese screens in colonial Mexico. Contemporary to Erauso’s time, the folding screen demarcates a space of semi-privacy within domestic interiors, creating a more fluid interaction between public and private, dressing and undressing, hiding and being seen.

The sculptures throughout the exhibition playfully dissect the colonial fashion of New Spain to reflect on the construction of gender and masculinity. Exquisitely anachronistic, these pieces by Azpilicueta combine baroque style with a queer nightlife full of glitter.