We're broadcasting tonight from El Lugar del Nopal -- an art cafe at the south end of Cinco de Mayo Avenue on the edge of downtown Tijuana. Here, on the eve of international woman's day, some thirty people -- chiefly a group of women artists and their friends -- have gathered to celebrate the inauguration of an exhibition of work by Lula Lewis, native of Ensenada, whose career has stretched from Mexico City to Tijuana.
First Lula's sister Lidice Figueroa gives a brief talk about the work of the group -- grupo Martes.
"We realized we needed a certain structure to focus our efforts. So we began to meet regularly -- on Tuesdays -- and to plan and hold expositions together. In the past few years we have put on five joint shows. One of these we called "la casa" (the house); it was a series of installations, one artist taking the closet as her theme, another the bedroom, another the garden, and so on. Another show we called "vestidos de novia" (bridal gowns) -- a theme which has great significance for us as women.
"We have realized that women don't necessarily do art differently than men, but we do have distinct themes deriving from our experiences as women and our roles as defined by society. We have also come to understand that each of us must find a balance between our selves as individuals and being members of a community. We cannot live alone, without others, but at the same time society must be open to our individual needs and desires. Tenemos que equilibrar el ser con comunidad."
Lidice leads us through a series of slides -- transparencias -- of works by eight members of the group: Meli, Laura, Lula, Lidice, Tanya, Meli, Lourdes, and Irma. Their styles and techniques are quite distinct and various, but all share an eloquence and mastery evocative of talent, skill and dedication.
Last, Lidice remarks: "We call ourselves grupo Martes -- from meeting on Martes (Tuesday), but also from mujeres-en-artes, m-artes, no? Then we realized that is also the name of the planet Marte (Mars), the ultimate symbol of war. But... well, women can be warriors too, no?"
After applause, her sister, Lula, tonight's exhibiting artist, stands to say a few words of thanks to El Nopal for providing space for displaying her work, and then briefly describe the work itself. Long bands of newspaper stretch along the wall, painted over with horizontal human figures. "These are painted in offset ink and were done in commemoration of the first anniversary of the newspaper Frontera. The first ones, here, are much more colorful, and are images of my son and niece. The other piece, much longer, 14 meters, is done in gray, and you might say represents how as adults we often lose that color and delight of childhood."
Now she invites us to see and enjoy her work up close. We all stand and begin to explore, as well as sample hors'd'oevres and wine. This writer finds the longer piece especially stunning, stretching around the interior corners of the cafe, from one room into another, a long running series of prone human figures who seem to be stretching through the years, grasping for something they see or imagine, but can't quite take hold of. The variations of tones of grey, and the twisting of the bodies, give a certain sadness and struggle to the work, and the repeated juxtapositions of human figures against printed newspaper pages speaks to me, personally, reminding me how often I feel lost amidst a daily barrage of news, commercials, sports, advertisements, events, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera....
