women.graphics.politics

project and text by Yili Rojas

In this exhibition I present positions and initiatives in which I participate as an initiator, coordinator, collaborator or member. I see myself as a builder of transnational bridges, with foundations in engraving, feminism and politics – understood here as critical action on the essential themes of everyday life, especially in what concerns those of us who were socialized or are read as women.

We learn to be women within social, historical, economic and cultural parameters that continually shape us. Most of us grew up in misogynistic contexts, where religion, media, school and family taught a subordinate view of femininity. Even when we think we have overcome these perspectives, we find ourselves reflecting gestures and values inherited from previous generations. Unlearning internalized misogyny is a necessary step – among many others that we still have to take.

We use printmaking circles as spaces for this unlearning: places where we strengthen transnational feminist practices, connecting ourselves emotionally and politically with other women. Workshops such as Frauen machen Druck (Women who print and/or who exert political pressure) in Berlin, Matriz in Cariri, Ceará, and La Linofficine in Marseille are examples of how feminisms are expressed in images, collaborations, and graphic actions.

Projects such as Frauen machen Druck with the Migrantinnen Verein (Association of Turkish and Kurdish Migrant Women in Berlin) and the Feministisches Palästinensisches Archiv Berlin (Palestinian Feminist Archive Berlin) illustrate the political and artistic commitment to urgent issues – such as recognizing and honoring Europe’s largest Palestinian diaspora, silenced in Germany amid the ongoing genocide and the criminalization of those who dare to denounce or protest it.

Aiming for intergenerational dialogue, the project Mädchen machen Druck (Girls Who Print or Press) will soon publish the multilingual book The Golden Oak, bringing together 16 stories of resilience told poetically by migrant women for young women and girls. Among them, the importance of women’s participation in the 2018 Sudanese Revolution, followed by a military coup that plunged the country into a political and humanitarian crisis, stands out.

In-person or virtual meetings and the construction of collective projects become spaces for support, emotional exchanges and practices. In Berlin, women – mostly migrants and refugees – meet weekly at Frauen machen Druck, recording and weaving networks of mutual support. In Cariri, Matriz is an open studio and a space for resistance to the exclusion of women in the tradition of popular engraving. This has given rise to initiatives such as Matriz – Festival de Grafias Feministas do Cariri, organized independently and held on these same days in the Brazilian Northeast, as well as projects such as Pornósgráficas.

The network is expanding through the Mulheres Gráficas project, connecting women from different regions of Brazil and Berlin in monthly meetings to present works, propose actions and exchange experiences about the female presence in the graphic field. These initiatives are intertwined in the Network of Networks, connecting practices from countries such as Mexico, Egypt, Belgium, France, Turkey, Kurdistan, Brazil and Germany.

In Oaxaca, the Taller de Gráfica Siqueiros has been operating for five years inside the Tanivet women's prison. The existence of this studio has a profound impact on the lives of inmates, and is organized autonomously by local artists who work in four other penitentiaries in the region. One of them is Haydee Nucamendi, who also promotes exhibitions such as Graphic Empowerment at the La Productora Gráfica del Bosque gallery – a reference for those who are part of this network.

Engraving, with its multiplying power, becomes a means of political influence and empowerment: visibility, occupation of spaces and recognition of the collective force capable of driving transformations in the medium and long term. The engraved portrait, featured in this exhibition, creates bridges of recognition and solidarity between women, challenging internalized misogyny, racism and classism.

The artist from Ceará, Andrea Sobreira, a member of Matriz and the Bestias Marginais project together with Carolina Piene, used the portrait to develop Zugvögel during her residency in Berlin – financed by the sale of prints by women in Berlin, in a concrete response to the need for mobility and exchange independent of institutional bodies.

Cleiri Cardoso, Zahra Peasey, Hanaa El Degham, Nireuda Longobardi, Nathaly Lavôr and Erivana Darc are also part of this network. Their works and positions show that feminist artistic work is constructed both inside and outside collectives. While Cleiri delicately denounces the female condition in metal engravings, she tells us about the almost symbolic absence of women in important graphic events – raising necessary concerns about power structures still permeated by sexism, racism and classism. Zahra pays homage to the women of the 1984 Manchester miners' strike in No Going Back. Hanaa brings to light political and social issues within and outside Egypt's borders, reminding us of the children who still play in Gaza. Nireuda, Nathaly and Erivana retell the popular Northeastern engraving from a female perspective, celebrating struggles and protagonisms that have historically been invisible.