Echando Flores (Throwing Flowers)
with Maria Ezcurra
The work of Maria Ezcurra was featured in our January/February 2009 issue. Ezcurra, who was born in Argentina and is now based in Mexico, explores in her art the meaning of clothing both in relation to and when it is removed from the body. Here we share images from her latest performance Echando Flores (Throwing Flowers), which in Mexico means to tell nice things to someone, to gain her sympathy. It was performed at Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos (CELARG) in Caracas, Venezuela, on November 25, 2008.
A group of eighteen women—including me—were wearing flower dresses for the night of the performance. At the beginning we were part of the crowd, until suddenly each one of us took a pair of scissors out of her purse and started cutting the flowers out of her dress. The original idea was to let them fall to the floor, give them away to people, or place them in places that needed to look nicer. But in the end, the crowd was very attracted to participating in the action of cutting the flowers, and they started collecting them and making personal bouquets out of our garments. The action was very nice, aesthetic, respectful, liberating, fun, and symbolic. The image of the cut, broken, incomplete dresses was very strong, brutal, and sad.
—Maria Ezcurra
Ezcurra is shown fourth from the right wearing a bright blue dress.
Photos: Violette Bule.
For additional information:
http://av.celarg.org.ve/Eventos/GuardarropaMariaEzcurra.htm |
