AMERICA NOW, 500 YEARS LATER
Méndez was one of 40 international designers and artists invited to participate in a special collection of posters for the ‘Second International Biennial of the Poster,’ in México City. The 1992 theme was “America Now, 500 Years Later.”
Méndez’s poster focused on issues of identity. The development of an identity is a complex process, and any identity, whether it is cultural, personal, national, racial, political, or all of them together, is in constant state of change and mutation. The torso represents the individual in both her strength and vulnerability. By reducing ‘Columbus’ ship to a decorative wallpaper element, Méndez’s questions and dilutes the celebration of the so-called ‘conquest.’ The faint silhouette of the Poodle serves as example of how species ownership limits, traps and distorts identity. Upon arriving to the United States, Méndez’s experience was a strong desire for people to categorize her as ‘latina, hispana, chicana, chilanga, etc...’ This excess of categorization felt confining and its failure is best expressed by cultural theorist and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha, ‘Despite our desperate, eternal attempt to separate, contain, and mend, categories always leak.”
Selected exhibition history:
1992 Second International Biennial of the Poster in Mexico. Jose Luis Cuevas Museum of Art, Mexico City.
1993 Art as Activist. Williamson Gallery, Pasadena, California.
1996 …and she told two friends: An International Exhibit of Graphic Design by Women. Woman Made Gallery, Chicago.
1998 Rebeca Méndez: Selections from the Permanent Collection of Architecture and Design Solo Exhibition. SFMOMA.
Méndez’s poster focused on issues of identity. The development of an identity is a complex process, and any identity, whether it is cultural, personal, national, racial, political, or all of them together, is in constant state of change and mutation. The torso represents the individual in both her strength and vulnerability. By reducing ‘Columbus’ ship to a decorative wallpaper element, Méndez’s questions and dilutes the celebration of the so-called ‘conquest.’ The faint silhouette of the Poodle serves as example of how species ownership limits, traps and distorts identity. Upon arriving to the United States, Méndez’s experience was a strong desire for people to categorize her as ‘latina, hispana, chicana, chilanga, etc...’ This excess of categorization felt confining and its failure is best expressed by cultural theorist and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha, ‘Despite our desperate, eternal attempt to separate, contain, and mend, categories always leak.”
Selected exhibition history:
1992 Second International Biennial of the Poster in Mexico. Jose Luis Cuevas Museum of Art, Mexico City.
1993 Art as Activist. Williamson Gallery, Pasadena, California.
1996 …and she told two friends: An International Exhibit of Graphic Design by Women. Woman Made Gallery, Chicago.
1998 Rebeca Méndez: Selections from the Permanent Collection of Architecture and Design Solo Exhibition. SFMOMA.