James Warren
A SMALL village in deep inland Malaga has enlisted the skills of two local artists to transform the whitewashed walls into a tribute to rural women across the ages.
In a project entitled ‘Saucedeñas’, Ronda photographer Ana Becerra and journalist and artist Selector Marx have taken to Villanueva del Rosario for a dramatic art project.
Residents awoke last week to large scale black and white collages of images of local rural women emblazoned on walls of municipal buildings.
“The women on the photographs are those women are entrepreneurs, who cultivated creativity or who had a history of self-improvement” said Becerra.
The images were donated by local families and the local town hall through an online blog and took months of organising and preparation before they were ready to be turned into large scale art pieces.
Marx, a journalist and visual artist, led the team in digitising the donated photographs and cutting them into group images, whilst Becerra led the social media push to advertise the project.
“We want to give visibility and focus on those stories through social impact and awareness. We are aware that life has changed and that the role of women before was to get married, be mothers and stay at home taking care of their children.” said Marx.
“The most that a woman could achieve was to take some kind of painting, weaving, crafts… We want to know their stories and honor life and their aspirations”.
The murals were met with genuine curiosity and interest from locals, who gathered for the unveiling after weeks hidden behind scaffolding.
Alongside the visual work, the team plan to organise workshops for the youth in the area with video talks and lectures on the history of women’s work in the area, all hosted by Becerra, Marx and videographer José Luis Barea.
“We would like to thank the friends and families that have helped us with this project and to those who have donated photographs of their loved ones.” said Becerra.
“But most of all we would like to pay gratitude to the local council of Villanueva del Rosario, without whom none of this would be possible.”
