Of Women, Madonnas and Martyrs

Single presentation: Sunday, November 19 at 3, 3.30, 4 y 4.30 pm

Within the framework of the fourth edition of BIENALSUR, Argentine artist Mercedes Azpilicueta presents the unprecedented performance Of Women, Madonnas and Martyrs at the Royal Academy of Spain. The shrine of San Pietro in Montorio serves as the scenographic backdrop for the interaction between the artist and the performer Antonella Fittipaldi, whose movements in the space respond to Azpilicueta’s narrative suggestions. The image selected to announce the performance, Artemisia Gentileschi's Madonna col Bambino, expresses the intimate connection between Azpilicueta's artistic exploration and her everyday experience. While voice and body take turns during the performance rehearsals, the artist's two-year-old son runs carefree, trying to capture his mother's attention. In a cross-play of mirrors, Azpilicueta envisions herself in the role of Artemisia Gentileschi, simultaneously identifying with the Virgin breastfeeding the child, the subject of the painting. The story of the Roman painter represents a recurring narrative thread in Azpilicueta's investigations, as evidenced by the video work Body-Birds (2018), showcased at the entrance of the Academy. The continuous overlapping of past and present, of public and private dimensions, is precisely the distinctive feature of Azpilicueta's work. This interplay is expressed in Of Women, Madonnas and Martyrs through the alternation of narrative registers. On the one hand, the intimate diary resonates with the inevitable echoes of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian territory; on the other, the historical chronicle, whose objective rigor is repeatedly undermined by continuous breaks in the narrative. The intimate experience of breastfeeding intersects with the cold enumeration of episodes in the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, while Azpilicueta's research trip to Pozzuoli intertwines with the story of the martyrdom of Saint Proculus and his companions. Vibrantly coloured fabrics signal these passages; their intervention during the performance corresponds to the alternation of narrative planes. Emanations of the virtuosity of baroque folds, at times conceal and at others reveal the movements of the body, serving as liminal objects between interior and exterior, public and private. Body and voice merge in an assonant narrative whose transtemporal and undisciplined character places the subjective experience at the centre, serving as a lens through which to interpret the world. Benedetta Casini