Object Annotation #6

Marta Pérez García's Nameless 13 (2021)

This piece is a part of a larger collection created by Marta Peréz García who is originally from Arecibo, Puerto Rico yet immigrated to the continental US (Louisiana to Philadelphia, then Washington DC) in 1987. Her work is meant to make commentary on the non-publicized domestic violence that had a stark increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each piece in the collection reflects the torso of women who have endured violence at the hand of others as well as larger systems.

Overview

Context, Background Info, Artist Bio etc.

The exhibition entitled Restos Traces was on display at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC in 2022. Since then, it has been in García's possession and is expected to reemerge in her next exhibit.

The quote placed directly above the piece reads: "I inhabit this formless body which not even paper can name. Memory mutilates it, the mirror destroys it. The gaze attacks it like a gunshot to a wounded animal. I disappear." and below it is translated in Spanish. I feel as though it is in coversation with the work of Regina Jose Gallindo's 279 Golpes which specifically engages in commentary on systemic violence of women. The fact that this figure is headless follows a long tradition of headless female nude sculptures notably amongst Roman and Greco art forms. When Emilia Barbosa analyzes the role of the audience within her writings on Regina Jose Gallindo she notes that the idea of body talk is the "staged use of the body to convey meaning." and that "the body functions as a container of memory. " (64 & 68) which I find incredibly relevant to a viewing of Nameless 13. While the body form itself in this piece does not contain one particular character it holds the memory of feminicide and other violence against women, while also reclaiming ownership of the dominant narrative though conveying the aufience as a mirror and gaze that also has historically claimed the power to destroy it.

The materials used to create the piece include: handmade paper, wire, nails, metal spikes, hair, teeth and old film negatives. The intentionality behind what was used is evidentially a commentary on what has been used to harm women and also speaks to production of said materials often being mainly sourced by female industrial labor that goes overlooked. This particular detail reminded me of the connection Sebastian Smee makes in his article on the works of Goya in that they mirror similar tactics now used in the US prison industrial complex. He writes: “Just as alarming is that the principle stated in Goya’s caption continues to be ignored by those who use prolonged solitary confinement and similar measures to torment people in America’s dysfunctional prison system.” and is particularly profound due to the distance in time both audiences associate with themes of pain, torture, and humiliate and are able to be repilcated.

The realistic aspects of the piece including the anatomical reflections of a bone structure, breasts, heads at the bottom etc. invokes associations of pain and carnage. Alexandra Schwartz similarly applies this association when analyzing Jordan Wolfson's pieces of art. However she emphasizes that there is an indisputable difference between witnessing 'real pain/torture" and performative violence. Schwartz notes that "knowing such violence, real as it is, doesn’t have an effect on a real person does change the power of the art work, utterly" (newyorker.com). This piece in a way is representative of a type of anticipation that is foundational to a human observer when viewing images or symbols of pain. Overall, it signals an experience of dissociated pain that still makes a politicized commentary on viewership.