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To Carry Every Name but Your Own: Kira Dominguez Hultgren

Past viewing_room
10 September - 22 October 2022
To Carry Every Name but Your Own, Kira Dominguez Hultgren

Please see our web page for more additional insight into the exhibition.

 

Eleanor Harwood Gallery is pleased to present Kira Dominguez Hultgren’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. 


To Carry Every Name but Your Own is a show woven from wool, silk, sisal, and Kevlar, in pieces of fluff and knots of grief. This show considers the question: What is a woman's body asked to carry?


Dominguez Hultgren grounds this show in the archive of documentation that surrounds Julia “Luz” Jiménez (1897-1965), a Nahua-Mexican artist, model, Nahuatl-language educator, storyteller, and weaver. Much of this documentation consists of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs created by members of the Mexican Modernist school. Artists in the movement included Diego Rivera, Jean Charlot, Fernando Leal, and Tina Modotti. 


Jiménez has been called the most painted woman in Mexico. For a U.S. audience, she may be most recognized in Diego Rivera’s work. In Rivera’s paintings she is depicted holding calla lilies, weaving, and grinding corn. Her figure was used to hold out indigeneity as Mexican identity and ideal, and as such she was visualized as a quintessential Mexican woman. Art historian John Charlot’s son explains that, for his father, Jiménez was “the woman he saw in all women of Mexico” (Sylvia Orozco, “Luz Jiménez in My World”).


Weaving, holding jars and baskets, and caring for her daughter became the visuals that the artists around Jiménez created and, to an unknown extent, Jiménez curated. She is the woman who carries the nation in her hands, strapped to her back, inside her womb. 


And while this show tries to acknowledge the ways Jiménez used the platform these artists gave her –  to tell and publish her own stories about the Mexican Revolution, her hometown of Milpa Alta, Nahua culture and identity, and how she worked with ethnographers to translate Náhuatl – this show is also about all that Jiménez as a symbol, as a person, is still asked and made to carry. 


Perhaps this tension – using the basket she’s holding and the belt she’s weaving as code-switching devices – is what draws Dominguez Hultgren to Jiménez. In her own weavings, Dominguez Hultgren uses materials spun from the dust hiding in the corners, the hairballs in the shower, the clothes from her grandmothers’ closets, and rope from her favorite climbing gyms. She builds looms that become the scaffolding to hold up the stories that one generation had to forget and another generation had to remember; multi-plied generations weaving into one another.
 

The timing of this show is particularly poignant for Dominguez Hultgren as she also weaves in response to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Using colors from the calla lily bouquet that she carried during her wedding in 2002, the patterns of serape blankets she grew up with, the titles of the artworks for which Jiménez modeled, and sisal to recall Abakanowicz’s Abakans, Dominguez Hultgren lines the insides of her loom, To Carry Every Name but Your Own (also the title of the show), with sari silk and bullet-proof Kevlar.

  • Artist's page
  • Artworks
Download Press Release
Download List of Works
  • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, The Eagle Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree, 2022
    Artworks

    The Eagle Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree, 2022

    Kira Dominguez Hultgren
    Made in the depths of quarantine, this piece is formed from the artist’s hair, from dust bunnies in the corners of rooms, and lint from the dryer. The eagle is the symbol for the United Farm Workers Union, and calls to both Luz’s heritage and to the artist’s. 
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EKira%20Dominguez%20Hultgren%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EThe%20Eagle%20Doesn%27t%20Fall%20Far%20from%20the%20Tree%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3ECA%20wool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Egrandma%27s%20silk%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eartist%27s%20hair%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ELA%20jute%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EPVC%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ewood%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E96%20x%20105%20x%2036%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A243.8%20x%20266.7%20x%2091.4%20cm%3Cbr/%3E%0ADimensions%20variable%3C/div%3E
  • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, The Woman He Saw in All the Women of Mexico, 2020
    Artworks

    The Woman He Saw in All the Women of Mexico, 2020

    Kira Dominguez Hultgren
    The only free standing installation in this show, The Woman… is formed of the very tool used to make so many other works. The loom, fundamental to the history of women’s handicrafts, is woven with printed fabric, cutouts from articles written about Jimenez and her impact.
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EKira%20Dominguez%20Hultgren%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EThe%20Woman%20He%20Saw%20in%20All%20the%20Women%20of%20Mexico%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2020%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EWarped%20revolutions%20in%20plant%20and%20animal%20fiber%20with%20printed%20imagery%20from%20exhibition%20catalog%20Luz%20Jim%C3%A9nez%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Es%C3%ADmbolo%20de%20un%20pueblo%20milenario%201897-1965%20%28M%C3%A9xico%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ED.F.%3A%20Consejo%20Nacional%20para%20la%20Cultura%20y%20las%20Artes%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EInstituto%20Nacional%20de%20Bellas%20Artes%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EMuseo%20Casa%20Estudio%20Diego%20Rivera%20y%20Frida%20Kahlo%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EMexic-Arte%20Museum%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E2000%29%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eloom%20bars%20left%20in%20place%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Einstalled%20on%20swift%20and%20sawhorse%20or%20other%20plinth%3B%20objetos%20personales%20de%20lana%20de%20fieltro%20y%20telar.%20%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E39%20x%2060%20x%2039%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A99.1%20x%20152.4%20x%2099.1%20cm%3Cbr/%3E%0ADimensions%20variable%3C/div%3E
  • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, In the Silence between Mother Tongues, 2022
    Artworks

    In the Silence Between Mother Tongues, 2022

    Kira Dominguez Hultgren
    This particular piece focuses most on the artist herself. It relates not just to her Mexican heritage, but to her Indian background and personal interests. Woven throughout the work is rope from Dominguez Hultgren’s favorite gym, where she loves to rock climb. In the center is silk from her grandmother’s chuni.
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EKira%20Dominguez%20Hultgren%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EIn%20the%20Silence%20between%20Mother%20Tongues%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3ESilk%20from%20a%20salwar%20and%20chuni%20that%20artist%27s%20grandmother%20wore%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Etwo%20nalas%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Erope%20from%20artist%27s%20favorite%20Utah%20climbing%20gym%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eparacord%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Efound%20wood%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eplastic%20and%20metal%20loom%20bars%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eheddle%20rods%20and%20shed%20rods%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eeye%20bolts%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ehand-spun%20wool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eskin%20dyed%20and%20acid%20dyed%20wool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Edigital%20handwoven%20fabric%20mostly%20in%20cotton%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Emohair%20and%20metallics%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Evarious%20other%20yarns%20and%20fabrics%20in%20cotton%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ewool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eacrylic%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Elinen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eand%20mohair%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E92%20x%2055%20x%2012%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A233.7%20x%20139.7%20x%2030.5%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Paintings of Luz Jimenez by Diego Rivera

    • Diego Rivera, The Grinder, 1924

      Diego Rivera, The Grinder, 1924

    • Diego Rivera, El Vendedor De Alcatraces, 1941

      Diego Rivera, El Vendedor De Alcatraces, 1941

    • Diego Rivera, The Weaver, 1936

      Diego Rivera, The Weaver, 1936

    • Diego Rivera, The Flower Seller, 1941

      Diego Rivera, The Flower Seller, 1941

    • Diego Rivera, The Flower Seller, year unknown

      Diego Rivera, The Flower Seller, year unknown

    • Diego Rivera, Indian Woman Weaving, 1936

      Diego Rivera, Indian Woman Weaving, 1936

  • Luz Jiménez modeling for Ramón Alva de la Canal, Fernando Leal and Francisco Díaz de León at an outdoor painting...
    Luz Jiménez modeling for Ramón Alva de la Canal, Fernando Leal and Francisco Díaz de León at an outdoor painting school in Coyoacán, Mexico, ca. 1920.  Image: photographer unknown, courtesy of Fondo Documental y Fotográfico Luz Jiménez and the Fondo Fernando Leal Audirac.
  • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Chasing Tales, 2022
    Artworks

    Chasing Tales, 2022

    Kira Dominguez Hultgren
    In 2021, Matilda Figlerowicz published an article in Revista: Harvard Review of Latin America focused on Jimenez. Dominguez Hultgren appreciated the piece, but has a different take on the subject. Figlerowicz saw Jimenez through the artwork of others, but this show works to examine the woman herself. Jimenez was a textile artist in her own right, and frequently used the image of a young girl in her artwork. This piece – along with In the Silence… – utilizes that image as well, and also includes the face of Jimenez herself in the upper lefthand corner. The tapestry is about chasing the story of Luz Jimenez, listening to the stories told about her, but focusing more on what she personally had to say.
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EKira%20Dominguez%20Hultgren%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EChasing%20Tales%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EDigital%20handwoven%20fabric%20in%20wool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ecotton%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Elinen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eand%20nylon%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E37%20x%2030%20x%201%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A94%20x%2076.2%20x%202.5%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, To Carry Every Name but Your Own, 2022
    Artworks

    To Carry Every Name but Your Own, 2022

    Kira Dominguez Hultgren
    A vulva made of Kevlar could be construed in many ways. To Carry… was made following the devastating recent Supreme Court decisions. Women are asked to send their children to school, not knowing whether they will return home that evening. Women are asked to risk their very bodies for children they haven’t chosen. Women are asked to carry their own fears, desires, and concerns, and those of their partners, their parents, and their children. The work isn’t any one thing either; it is also meant to call to mind the image of a calla lily, a flower that is central to Luz Jimenez’s public identity, and which is special to the artist herself. There is also the distinct impression of a basket, which of course carries in the physical world as much as we carry in our hearts.
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EKira%20Dominguez%20Hultgren%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ETo%20Carry%20Every%20Name%20but%20Your%20Own%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EHandspun%20ropes%20in%20sisal%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Esilk%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ebullet-proof%20and%20stab-proof%20Kevlar%3B%20warped%20in%20wool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eacrylic%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ecotton%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Elinen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Esilk%3B%20loom%20bars%3B%20zip%20ties%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E96%20x%2060%20x%2040%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A243.8%20x%20152.4%20x%20101.6%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Luz, 2022
    Artworks

    Luz, 2022

    Kira Dominguez Hultgren
    This piece was born of the titular piece, and shares many of its materials. Luz Jimenez, who lies at the heart of this show, has been given many names. In particular, Diego Rivera was the one to hand them out. Along the right hand side of this piece, these names were printed on fabric and carefully woven into the work itself. The names are a part of Jimenez, but they weren’t all that she was.
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EKira%20Dominguez%20Hultgren%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ELuz%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EWool%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eacrylic%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Ecotton%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Elinen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Esilk%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Esisal%3B%20fabric%20woven%20with%20the%20names%20of%20Luz%20%28Malinche%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EFuente%20de%20los%20c%C3%A1ntaros%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ELavandera%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EIndia%20con%20frutas%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ETejedora%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ELa%20molendera%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ELa%20maestra%20rural%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EVendedora%20mexicana%20de%20flores%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EMadre%29%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E73%20x%2045%20x%203%20in%3Cbr/%3E%0A185.4%20x%20114.3%20x%207.6%20cm%3C/div%3E
  • Artwork in "To Carry Every Name but Your Own"

    • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Luz, 2022
      Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Luz, 2022
    • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, In the Silence between Mother Tongues, 2022
      Kira Dominguez Hultgren, In the Silence between Mother Tongues, 2022
    • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, The Eagle Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree, 2022
      Kira Dominguez Hultgren, The Eagle Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree, 2022
    • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, To Carry Every Name but Your Own, 2022
      Kira Dominguez Hultgren, To Carry Every Name but Your Own, 2022
    • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, The Woman He Saw in All the Women of Mexico, 2020
      Kira Dominguez Hultgren, The Woman He Saw in All the Women of Mexico, 2020
    • Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Chasing Tales, 2022
      Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Chasing Tales, 2022
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