Hic et Nunc (Irma, Patricia)
By salvaging prosthetic lower limbs from rubbish dumps or flea markets in Iztapalapa, a poor district of Mexico City, and creating replicas through a process of documentation in a specialist clinic, Berenice Olmedo highlights the heavy environmental pollution that causes deformities in children that require amputations. By transcending the serial nature of these mass-produced objects, from which she creates several similar works, the artist shows marginalised and invisible social groups—as suggested by the transparency of these objects which have been elevated to the status of works of art—from a personal perspective, notably by the addition of first names. By giving her work the title of a famous Epicurean and Stoic Latin maxim, she also encourages those that wear prosthetics to go beyond the ableism of today’s society and to live fully according to their wishes.
Text written by Chiara Perez as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibition
Kunsthalle Basel, Bâle (Suisse)
from 10 Jun to 18 Sep 2022