WOMEN OF COLOR ON STAGE. CURATORIAL ACTIVISM AND DECOLONIAL FEMINISM IN TWO CONTEMPORARY ARTS PROPOSALS IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

This article stems from the observation that women and women of colour are underrepresented in contemporary art museums, art centres and exhibitions in Latin America, in regards of cultural policies, artistic institutions and curatorial practices. Concretely, it investigates the potential of the latter —the curatorial practices— of producing more inclusive and egalitarian sociocultural representations through the so-called curatorial activism. In line with the counter-hegemonic actions that have been taking place in the context of feminist struggles since the beginning of the century in Latin America, this piece focuses on the issue of race or ethnicity, which is an intrinsic dimension of the colonial matrix of power and the decolonial thought developed in the continent. After a historical-theoretical survey of the low representation of women and particularly of women of colour in art history, it addresses the concepts of intersectionality, coloniality of gender, epistemic and institutional racism, and curatorial activism. The article examines the implications of the articulation of curatorial activism and decoloniality of gender through the analysis of two curatorial projects in Latin America. These expose the existence of curatorial strategies that are socially engaged with diversity and actively counteract the continued underrepresentation, silencing and neglect of the history still suffered by many artists and women of colour, which glances at a movement towards the decolonization of epistemologies, knowledge and, of course, aesthetics.