Neither Submissive nor Devoted

The exhibition “Neither Submissive nor Devoted” is the response with which the artist María Eugenia Trujillo (Colombia 1953) attacks the historical submission that women have had towards men. Since its origins, ever since Eve succumbed to the seemingly futile temptation of the serpent, biting the forbidden fruit, the Judeo-Christian imaginary has turned women into the embodiment of lust, temptation, and sin. And it is precisely in this sense that M.E. Trujillo’s work stands as a visual metaphor at the service of a poetic social, historical, and religious theme that not only denounces and delves into the feelings of guilt that weigh on women, but at the same time calls for liberation from these feelings and sexual pleasure.

In M.E. Trujillo’s work, both form and method take on a clear statement of principles: the needle, a patient and refined resource with which women weave, becomes a paintbrush, through which they discover an intimate, singular, and personal territory. The long and sometimes tedious days of sewing that mark and have marked the daily lives of many women are also spaces for confidence, for the search for gender complicity, and ultimately, for conveying everything that only a woman is capable of understanding, and therefore knowing. M.E. Trujillo thus joins a movement of artists, including Joanna Vasconcellos, Raymond Arcler, Chiharu Sihota, Louise Bourgeois, and the also Colombian Olga de Amaral, among others, who explore and champion women’s textile work, placing it on the same level as other artistic disciplines.

From the refreshing perspective of a woman representing another woman, Trujillo embroiders parts of the female body, incorporating them into seemingly religious objects to redefine and transform them into works of art destined for contemplation and reflection. Vaginas, nipples, and hearts converse with each other from the monstrances and lattices, in the intimacy of the confessional, amidst the exquisiteness and sensuality of the fabrics. The artist also addresses such delicate yet under-examined topics as conversations in the confessional, the sin of solicitation, and monastic life as a resource for many women seeking to escape marriage or gender inequality.

The political and social content of her works led ME Trujillo to endure censorship in 2014, after Catholic groups denounced the “Hidden Women” exhibition at the Santa Clara Museum in Bogotá.