Art projects

Feminist improvements, and a conscious openness to a new world devoid of patriarchal repression, are the pillars of a slow, yet gradual and constant, evolution in which we sometimes fail to consider through a single lens the contrasts between the yesterday and today of where History and Memory meld.

Women and children are the two key elements in the issue of eugenics as pursued by doctors under the Franco regime during the post-war period; they are the two poles who, under the watchful eye of the "master race" advocates, formed the chain that linked the Marxist past to the desired nationalist present. These eugenics chose child segregation as the main means to eradicate what they called the "red" gene, a practice conducted in mothers prisons. The concept of eugenics is inseparably linked to that of identity, which during that time sought to adjust to a supposedly ideal conception of women as unequal and inferior. In 1953, Pilar Primo de Rivera's The Good Wife's Guide presented the 11 fundamental steps towards a woman's appropriate behaviour within marriage, which were basically "11 rules for making your husband happy". Unbeknownst to us certain behaviours, thoughts and ideas anchored in the past may still permeate current traditions and, therefore, our present time.

The project follows three axes; research, productive development and experience. In addition to MAV funding, it is supported by Espacios de Igualdad (Spaces of Equality); Jóvenes por la Memoria Histórica (Young People for Historical Memory); the LABOCA music band; and Delfo, Desarrollo laboral y Formación E. Igualdad (Professional Development, Training and Equality).

EXHIBITIONS DATES

Espacio María de Maeztu
1 - 27 May 2016

Espacio María Zambrano
3 - 27 May 2016

Espacio María Telo
1 - 27 June 2016

Sala de Exposiciones Retiro
4 - 29 November 2016
Opening: 8 November

Image: Regional Archives of the Community of Madrid Santos Yubero fund