Canon

NoguerasBlanchard presents a new project by Argentinean artist Mercedes Azpilicueta at Apertura 2021. The exhibition will offer a speculative vision of Catalina de Erauso, popularly known as the Nun Ensign, one of the most legendary and controversial characters of the Spanish Golden Age. In the early 17th century, Erauso escaped from religious life in the Basque Country and travelled to the New World, where she lived under various male identities and became a ruthless conquistador in the service of the Spanish Empire, obtaining the Pope's blessing to pursue life as a man.

Woven in a Jacquard tapestry, the central work in the exhibition evokes a feverish vision of colonial encounters. Its title, Abya Yala (Guna for 'ripe land'), refers to a proposed alternative name for the Americas used among indigenous peoples. The work is the result of compiling archival images from historical maps, Prints and colonial art; and is shown mounted on a display inspired by the history of screens, a luxury item that developed as an adaptation of Japanese screens in colonial Mexico. Contemporary to Erauso's time, the screen delineates a space of semi-privacy within domestic interiors, creating a more fluid interaction between public and private, dressing and undressing, hiding and being seen.

The sculptures scattered throughout the exhibition playfully dissect colonial fashion in New Spain to reflect on the construction of gender and masculinity. Exquisitely anachronistic, Azpilicueta's pieces combine baroque style with glittering queer nightlife.