The Clothesline
Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2019
The Clothesline,2019
Photo: Ito Tetsuo
"Have you been mistreated as a woman? What happened?"
"Have you or anyone you know experienced sexual harassment or violence? What happened?"
"What have you done or will you do against sexual harassment or violence?"
"If you ever suffered sexual violence and could not react, what do you wish you had done?"
The pink slips of paper pinned on a clothesline are answers to the 4 questions made by Mónica Mayer and the participants who attended her workshop during June this year. In this eye-catching pink gallery, visitors are able to read the comments anonymously written by other visitors and they are also welcomed to answer these questions concerning sexual harassment against women on the cards on the table and to hang them on the clothesline themselves.
The work picks up and features the "voice of the voiceless", to visualize ongoing harassment and violence related to gender, even when they are not considered a crime.
The project has been undertaken in different parts of the world for more than four decades, since 1978, and encourages us all not to overlook gender discrimination and violence, to think and talk openly about them.
Mónica MAYER
- Born 1954 in Mexico City, Mexico
- Based in Mexico City, Mexico
Photo: Victor Lerma
Mónica Mayer is a pioneer of feminist art in Mexico who has produced numerous pieces that expose gender inequality. In The Clothesline, a participation project that she began in 1978, she invites the audience to write anonymously on pink sheets of paper about the experiences of sexual harassment or oppression they experience in their everyday lives. By providing a safe environment where people can share their feelings, Mayer makes the audience aware of the double standards in our social structures, creating a starting point from which to dialogue and develop solidarity.
Selected Works & Awards
| 2017 | The Clothesline Project (solo), National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., USA |
| 2017 | Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA |
| 2016 | When in Doubt... Ask: A Retrocollective Exhibit of Mónica Mayer (solo), Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo [MUAC], Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2007 | WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art [MOCA], Los Angeles, USA |
| 2002 | 7th NIPAF Asia Performance Art Series, Tokyo, Japan |
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Nagoya City Art Museum
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・7 minutes on foot from Osu Kannon Station on the Tsurumai Line
・10 minutes on foot from Yabasho Station on the Meijo Line