Artwork Details
- Title
- Santa Chingada: The Perfect Little Woman
- Artist
- Date
- 1999-2000
- Location
- Dimensions
- 25 in. × 18 in. × 11 1⁄2 in. (63.5 × 45.7 × 29.2 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift from the collection of Clemmer and David Montague
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- ceramic and mixed media
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Figure female
- Object Number
- 2021.61.5
Artwork Description
Kukuli Velarde portrays her inherited memories and emotions. Her series of squatting ceramic figures, called Isichapuitu, were inspired by a Peruvian myth about a priest who used vessels called Manchaypuitu (male) and Isichapuitu (female) to summon spirits from the past. This Isichapuitu embodies a “Perfect Little Woman,” after the Virgin Mary of Sorrows, a mournful figure with seven daggers piercing her heart. This woman has no power over her own body: she is pregnant but wears a chastity belt, and she wears a mask of an idealized white woman. Velarde crafts a charged moment, as if the woman has woken up and realized her confinement. She removes the mask to show herself as a fierce Indigenous woman.
Velarde wrote the text around the sculpture’s edge: I open my arms to you, saying “I am yours.” Nail your thorns on me. I will be the one who heals your wounds and relieves you from your sorrows. I do not ask for anything in return. If something, maybe a little of your love . . . If something, maybe just to know I am your savior, the sacrificed mother of your children . . . Any offense you inflict on me is welcome as my token . . . For your veneration . . .
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022
Exhibitions
