Created six months into the COVID-19 lockdown, “Milk” depicts Meléndez charging forward in a large-scale portrait using her own likeness combining silk, drawing and various needlework techniques. The figure carries a limp bull with milk dripping from her breasts in a comment on gender violence which escalated in Puerto Rico during the pandemic. Feminist organizations took to the streets demanding the government declare a state of emergency in response to an increase in domestic abuse against women. The milk reaffirms the strength of women as a life force while the bull, tamed momentarily with breast milk, might be read as a critical comment on how women can also “nurse the beast of patriarchy,” said Meléndez.
“Milk” by Elsa María Meléndez. Canvas with silkscreen, embroidery, ink, and other textiles. 2020 Collection of the artist. Copyright Elsa María Meléndez.
“The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today” will go on tour starting in 2023 to select venues including Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida, April 8, 2023–Oct. 8, 2023; Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Nov. 3, 2023–Jan. 21, 2024; and Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, Feb. 17, 2024–May 5, 2024.
The competition and exhibition are made possible by the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Endowment, which was established by Virginia Outwin Boochever, a longtime docent at the National Portrait Gallery. The endowment is sustained by her family.
National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the multifaceted story of the United States through the individuals who have shaped American culture. Spanning the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the nation’s story.
The National Portrait Gallery is located at Eighth and G streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Connect with the museum at npg.si.edu and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
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