PopUp Episode! ¡En Español!
If life give you lemonson display through August 13
Embroidery by Carmen Mardónez
Before I even menstruated for the first time, I had already been taught in my school how to cook, sew, knit, and embroider. Regardless of what I wanted to be as a grown-up, I had to have the necessary skills to become a good wife and mother. I was told to learn how to embroider canonically to craft beautiful dresses for my future daughters (!!).When I became a mother, all my rebellion, hidden in the depths of myself, irremediably exploded. I refused to be what I had been trained for. My artistic work then became another way of expressing my resistance. The stitches lost the tidiness of the selfless mother and became wild and unpredictable, privileging the exploration of color and movement over a finished technique and detail.
Paradoxically, instead of being housework, my practice as an embroidery artist makes me a bad wife and mother, because it does not meet the practical needs and takes away hours of housekeeping, diverting me from the absolute dedication to the upbringing of my son.
Embroidering skies is not just about light and intangibility. It is also, in some sense, trying to seize the passage of time. In the calm of a nap, of an early bedtime, or making the most of a solitary game, my work becomes a moment of contemplation. Is to grant myself the right to leisure and calm. To enjoy the passage of time and, beyond pediatric controls, getting a feel for the seasons of the year, between sunrises and sunsets. It is the joy of every day, of the magnificent pace of life captured by celestial landscapes.
"If life gives you lemons" is the result of a year of experimentation with embroidery on the lemon meshes we consumed at home. The yellow nets were the imposed foot, and the inspiration images, own or borrowed, came from the skies of this city that I am just starting to inhabit. During this year of embroidery and mothering my son learned to walk and climb everywhere, so small pieces were perfect for keeping out of his reach. Therefore, both the size and the format of the artwork mounted on a frame, respond to the needs of working at home with my son around. By exhibiting the outcome of this self-sponsored artistic residency with the public, I am disclosing my struggles as an artist, woman, immigrant, and mother. The result is a collection of imaginary landscapes and self-contained universes, that helped me to navigate through this year of transformations.
You can find me on Instagram @desbordado and website: www.carmenmardonez.com
Come to the Los Angeles County Store to see her work before it comes down on July 17!
~~ As a thank you to listeners, the LA Makers Podcast is partnering with the Los Angeles County Store to offer a promo code for a one-time discount of 10% off your purchase in-store or online. The promo code is: LAMAKERS ~~
