L O N D O N G R I P . . . art exhibition review
ILINCA CANTACUZINO
on
an exhibition of new work
by 200 artists responding to
the murders of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez,
Mexico
400
WOMEN
a project by Tamsyn Challenger
curated by Ellen Mara De Wachter
12 November - 5 December 2010
Shoreditch Town Hall Basement,
380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
_________________________
How could I do her justice?
I was given her name in July this year, 2010. Brenda Patricia Meléndez Vázquez - murdered 26 June 1998. There was no image of her, only a name. Even her age was not certain – 14, maybe 15 years old. How could I visually represent her, embody her, commemorate her, give her a voice? But more important, how could I do her justice?
The motives for these crimes are unclear, although they are clearly gender based. The Mexican authorities have done little to bring the perpetrators to justice, highlighting the appalling disregard for the rights of women in this country. And in August 2006 the federal government dropped its investigations into the murders altogether. As if in response to this, the violence against women has steadily increased: this year alone more than 300 women have been brutally murdered or abducted in the area.
The seed for the project 400 Women was sown in 2005 while Challenger was in Mexico making a feature for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. When she left, some of the mothers, whose trauma continues beyond words, pressed into her hands the faded photos of their lost daughters. This despair and the families’ impotence against an intransigent and corrupt government drove her to create this large scale portrait project.
Each of the women is represented by an individual artist. Challenger told me that she could have painted all the women herself but that it was vital for the impact and integrity of the work to have each woman represented separately. She says, “Each artist represents each woman, painting her into being.” The portraits have an intensity forged from each artist’s unique engagement with that task, bearing witness to our common humanity, performing an action against this indefensible situation. 
Challenger chose for me Brenda Patricia Meléndez Vázquez. She was a woman who has been almost eradicated, violated in her short life and disregarded after her brutal death. To paint her portrait without a photograph meant I could not connect with how she had looked. I only had her name. A name may be no more than a label, an identity tag. But, since it was all I had to work with, it became for me the total expression of her life. Names are made of words and are spoken as often as they are read. If my piece is to bring her justice it has to do more than speak, it has to shout her name.
Retribution will follow as an echo follows a sound, or a shadow follows a form. Someone writing at night may put out the lamp, but the words he has written will still remain.
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin
(Soka Gakkai, 1999), p. 25.
_________________________
Curator’s notes:
· Each image will be on a uniformly sized canvas of 14” by 10” (portrait) echoing the “retablo” (which means ‘behind the altar’), the iconic imagery of the Catholic Church that remains such a strong force and power in Mexico.
· Challenger’s 2006 Woman’s Hour feature on the killings can be heard at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2006_26_fri.shtml
· Information about the project’s development and images of works as they are painted can be previewed at http://400women.tumblr.com/
· Ellen Mara De Wachter is a curator and writer based in London. Her main occupation is as the exhibitions curator at Zabludowicz Collection in Camden, where she has worked with artists on major commissions and exhibitions for the Zabludowicz Collection’s space at 176 Prince of Wales Road, including Matt Stokes, Graham Hudson, Mark Titchner and Toby Ziegler.
· Lise Bjorne Linnert is a multimedia artist based in Norway. Desconocida Unknown Ukjent uses 
embroidery to highlight the struggle to address the abuse, trafficking and murder of women. The project was initiated in 2006 in response to the situation in Ciudad Juárez and consists of workshops during which participants embroider the names of the murdered young women onto labels. So far over 2,200 people have participated in the project, embroidering more than 4,000 nametags. The project was awarded the Luleaa Summer Biennial Award in 2007.
· Shoreditch Town Hall Basement is a unique venue in the heart of artistic Shoreditch. Built in 1866 and now run by the Shoreditch Trust, the building has been used for exhibitions of work by internationally renowned artists and community projects alike. www.shoreditchtownhall.org.uk
For further information contact Ellen Mara De Wachter (07957 336 464) or Tamsyn Challenger (07714 126 166) or email 400women@googlemail.com
Confirmed artists:
Alastair Adams
Susan Aldworth
Carolina Ambida
Wendy Anderson
Jane Archer
Miranda Argyle
Bridgette Ashton
Joseph Avery
Dan Baldwin
Craig Barber
Mike Bartlett
Clare Barton-Harvey
John Beard
Rosemary Beaton
Julie Bennett
Paul Birdsall
Jason Bowyer
Lesley Burr
Ruth Calland
Ilinca Cantacuzino
Phil Cath
Rachel Cattle
Brian Catling
Gordon Cheung
Coral Churchill
Tom Coates
Emma Coleman
Tintin Cooper
Simon Davis
John Devane
Nelly Dimitranova
Alejandro Domingo
Annabel Dover
Sarah Doyle
Louise Durose
Joel Ely
Tracey Emin
Andrew Festing
Maryam Foroozanfar
Paul Fryer
Sue Golden
Oona Grimes
Gabor Gyory
Hazel Hammond
Maggi Hambling
Marcelle Hansellaar
Gwen Hardie
Alison Harper
Vicky Hawkins
Afsoon Hayley
Nadia Hebson
Wim Heldens
Rachel Howard
Georgina Hunt
Mary Jackson
Andrew James
Shani Rhys James
Jasper Joffe
Sanam Khatibi
Brendan Kelly
Anita Klein
Tanya Kohn
Shema Ladva
Elspeth Lamb
Sonia Lawson RA
Debbie Lee
Sadie Lee
Tom Levy
Laurie Lipton
Cathy Lomax
Andrea Marshal
Kate Marshall
Luciana Meazza
Johanna Melvin
Hugh Mendes
Fiona Michie
Alex Michon
Stephanie Moran
Colette Moray De Morand
Nicola Morrison
Charlotte Mortensson
Nan Mulder
Harriet Murray
Nancy Nimoy
Humphrey Ocean RA
Kim O'Neil
Paul Ord
Kate Palmer
Ian Parker
Celia Paul
Lei Lei Qu
Paula Rego
Leslie Reid
Sue Ryder
Fred Schley
Tommy Seaward
Elie Shamir
Ali Sharma
Tai Shan Schierenberg
Jonathan Smith
Philippa Stjernsward
Matthew Stradling
Jeff Stultiens
Benjamin Sullivan
David Sullivan
Suzan Swale
Swoon
Emma Talbot
Neil Taylor
Paul Tecklenberg
Katherine Tulloh
Gee Vaucher
Be Van Der Heide
Gini Wade
Catharyne Ward
Jonathan Waller
Toby Wiggins
Simon Whittle
Anthony Whishaw RA
Nicholas Charles Williams
Susan Wilson
Eric Wright
Joanna Yates
John Yeadon
Katia Yezli
Mexican Artists
(Assisting in Mexico:
Maru Vasquez)
Andres Basurto
Patricia Cajiga
Jose Cano
Olga Chorro
Dina Eugenia
Maria Teresa Gaos
Arturo Hinojos
Abraham Jimenez
Jose Luis cuevas
Juan Toledo
Maru Vasquez
Ana Zoebisch
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Paintings on this page
(each approx 14x10 inches)
1. Laura Berenice
by Laurie Lipton
2. Karen
by Tamsyn Challenger
3. Brenda Patricia Meléndez Vázquez
by Ilinca Cantacuzino
4. Karina
by Abraham Jimenez