Exhibition ‘La bella figurina Valdivia’ by Mariella García at the Nahim Isaías museum

By remembering the International Women’s Day This Tuesday, March 8, the Nahim Isaiah Museum of Guayaquil will present the catalog of the exhibition The beautiful figurine: From the end of utopias to the rebirth of retrotopiasby the archaeologist and artist Mariella García and that refers to the female figure of the Valdivia culture.

The exhibition is part of the fifth edition of the contemporary graphics room which was recently inaugurated in that museum space. The exhibition is curated by Hernán Pacurucu (Cuenca), who, according to García, was the one who proposed integrating the artist’s works in this room, which were made with the engraving technique.

“There are different plots in putting the color, not only color planes are seen, but colors with different visual textures that actually do not exist because the engraving is flat. Since my painting is a bit textural in oil, then I achieved that same effect through engraving”, explains García.

“In 2019 we made an exhibition at the MAAC on the figurine Valdivia as an icon that embodies a social role through its formal changes for 2,000 years… For this exhibition I began to make a series of designs for the gondolas that we put in the exhibition in a playful way. I continued these engravings until 2022 ″, he recalls.

“With the lockdown and everything we’ve been through, art was put to the rescue of those of us who make art, because having the time to do what you like and rescue your emotions is basic for human beings.” In the midst of the pandemic, this collection began to grow in volume. Pacurucu saw all these works and put “the beautiful figurine” on it.

With the title of the series, García proposes to reconstruct history from our ancestral point of view. “I just liked the title the beautiful, it is not necessarily what is meant by beautiful, but it is the aesthetic expression that every society needs at this time and gives it importance to reflect itself… drawing on the history and prehistory of our past ancestral, of our own essence, not from Europe, necessarily not from Venus, but the figurine”.

At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, when the catalog for this exhibition is presented, attendees will also explore in detail the research work and construction process of the works that, in effect, are the visual result of his archaeological workclarifies the artist.

“The figurine is an aesthetic expression of social concepts. At this moment, at the same time, I take the figurine and decant it on the problem of women that we are now trying to elucidate in these requests for equal opportunities… In that sense is a comparative gender study between the ancient and the contemporaryI not only see it as a form but also associated with texts that were the result of my first excavation in real high”.

This exhibition, located on the upper floor of the museum, also proposes an inclusive and multimedia experience, which enriches the visit. Attendees will be able scan several QR codes, to find stories with the author’s voicewho by narrating his own interpretation of the ancient existence of this ancestral character, “makes us part of a magical, intimate space, in which aromas that are already part of the collective memory are also perceived,” complements a museum statement.

The Nahim Isaías museum is located on Pichincha streets, between Aguirre and Clemente Ballén, and is open free of charge to the general public, Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.