My research is into the multiple aspects of motherhood and I am investigating the obsession that develops in response to the psychological impact of loss, specifically the effects of miscarriage. To that I’ve added a study about the desire to become like my mother and the inability to do the same mother/daughter things I had anticipated. This desire developed into an obsession. I am curious about why I feel I need to produce a female offspring. I have asked myself if it stems from a maternal need that is unfulfilled by my sons, or if it was ingrained in me by my family dynamic, the environment in which I was raised. I was either naturally predisposed to nurture or I was trained, from the beginning, when I received my first doll that cared for, pretended was my own child and named her Hannah. My mother had 3 daughters and she made matching dresses for us and I couldn’t wait until I had a daughter to wear my handmade dresses. I am examining whether it is that I WANT to be like my mother or that I am EXPECTED to be like my mother.
The narratives of MONIKAHOUSE are; motherhood, loss caused by miscarriage, obsession and its manifestations, desperation, dealing with resolution and hard adoptions of reality. All the work stems from this ‘brain’. It represents all my experiences as a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife. In this space, I can create or recreate any experience I wish. It is an environment akin to a forest. It is often that you are not allowed to remove or even directly interact with the environment, however, you are encouraged to simply observe. An experience that is no less dynamic than if you were allowed to interact. Think Hiking verses Camping.
For the last several years I have been creating rooms in a house, now I am using a house for installations of rooms. My thesis exhibition consists of sixteen rooms in an 1891 Queen Anne home that I have transformed into my life size dollhouse. I have used textiles, ready-made objects from my childhood, furniture and building materials, to create a continuous body of work.
I am a South American women artist and mother. I believe that one of the most important art roles is to make people think and reflect about unpleasant subjects and situations that would otherwise be forgotten or passed by. In my artwork I attempt to address those delicate subjects bringing up themes such as clichés and motherhood, contradictions of the feminine universe, constructions of gender and sexuality. I make my artwork with a variety of media that goes all the way from traditional painting and photography to perishable elements and installations. Currently I am privileging the use of pink as the beginning and end of my creative process, subverting the notions of beauty and grotesque.