Group Exhibition – Signs of an Expanded Femininity
Femininity is a culturally constructed concept, often shaped by stereotypes and normative expectations about how women should behave, appear, or be represented. Throughout history, this notion has been molded through a heteropatriarchal lens that has restricted its understanding and expression. In contemporary art, however, many creators have challenged traditional representations of the female body, transforming it into a space of resistance, protest, and subjective experience.
Cuban artists such as Adriana Mugia, Liudmila Velasco, Lancelot Alonso, Leo De la O Reyes, and Daniel Ernesto Martínez Reyes approach the concept of the “feminine” through identity-based or mythopoetic perspectives, revealing the symbolic and emotional complexity embedded in this notion. In their work, femininity is not portrayed as a fixed essence or a biological category, but as an open construct constantly redefined. This approach allows both male and female artists in contemporary Cuban art to embrace the feminine not as a closed mold, but as an expanded field of possible meanings.
The representation of femininity varies according to each artist’s aesthetic intentions, personal motivations, and the message they aim to convey. It may emerge from internal exploration—delving into memory, desire, or identity—or as a critical response to normative discourses that attempt to impose a single model of womanhood. In this way, these visual practices offer new ways of feeling, thinking, and imagining the body, gender, and their multiple narratives.
