Elsa María Meléndez
Using traditionally feminine crafts, this visual artist from Puerto Rico creates dialogue around social and environmental issues, gender and race.
Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Elsa Maria Melendez is an award winning visual artist. In the past 25 years, she has had work in over 90 exhibitions throughout the United States, Uruguay, Cuba, Ireland, Romania, Portugal, The Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. She has organized and designed over 50 group exhibitions for the Museo de Arte de Caguas promoting generational dialogues around social criticism, environmental issues, gender, and race.
Meléndez has a distinct style incorporating engraving, embroidery, and large accumulations of textiles and synthetic materials in her pieces. With her work in contemporary collections around the globe, Meléndez currently has her piece, “Milk,” on view in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. as part of the Outwin Exhibition where it was awarded People’s Choice Award.
“Milk” is a self-portrait of the artist charging ahead carrying a limp bull with her breasts dripping milk. Created at the start of the pandemic, this powerful and graceful figure is a reflection on gender equality in Puerto Rico at a time when femicides increased substantially in Puerto Rico and all over the world. The figure “recognizes the strength of women and their life-sustaining force while acknowledging their willingness to nurse the beast that sustains patriarchy.”
Meléndez’s work is compelling in concept and execution. Her pieces possess an energy that draws viewers across galleries to see the tactile hand crafted details in the overwhelming volume of fabric dwarfing the onlooker.
She also creates smaller sculptural works with textiles like this work on view at the Alabama Contemporary Art Center through December 10.
Using crafts traditionally associated with women, Meléndez creates work that beautifully address the struggle of women in Puerto Rico and around the world.
If you are in Washington D.C., make sure to stop by the National Portrait Gallery to experience the power of “Milk” and make sure to post it on social media. Meléndez is very active on social media and loves to interact with viewers. Follow her on Instagram @elsamariamelendez and see her portfolio on her website elsamariamelendez.com.