Ximena Cuevas
| Ximena Cuevas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1963 (age 60–61) |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Known for | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
Ximena Cuevas (born 1963) is a Mexican video performance artist. Her works often explore the social and gender issues facing lesbians in Mexico. Cuevas's videos and films have screened at Sundance, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the touring film series, Mexperimental Cinema. Among her noted works is a 1993 video clip entitled Corazon Sangrante.
Biography
Ximena Cuevas was born in 1963 in Mexico City.[1] She is the daughter of Mexican painter José Luis Cuevas[2] and his first wife Bertha Riestra.[3]
Cuevas has been recognized as a significant contributor to videography by the Mexican government.[4] Many of her films offer social commentary on corruption and its impact on culture, society and politics and explore from a feminist perspective the place of women in society. Lesbianism and its societal portrayal is also a recurring theme.[5]
Beginning in 1990, after becoming disillusioned with traditional films being made both nationally and internationally, Cuevas purchased a camera and began producing her own films.[5] She has received scholarships from the Mexican National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), the Fideicomiso para la Cultura México (Trust for Mexican Culture), an Eastman Kodak Worldwide Independent Filmmaker Production Grant among others and has made presentations at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Guggenheim of New York and Bilbao, Spain.[4]
Cuevas' work is most known for its subtle irony of evaluating contemporary society and exposing the incongruity between social customs and beliefs versus the reality of living. She deconstructs myths of the "typical middle-class Mexican family", heteronormative relationships, concepts of beauty, through parody of the ridiculousness of their traditional portrayal in popular culture.[5] In her own words, her videos uncover the "half lies" of the collective Mexican imagination.[6]
The Sundance Film Festival, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the touring film series, Mexperimental Cinema, have all been venues for screenings of Cuevas' films.[7] Among her noted works is the 1993 video clip entitled "Corazon Sangrante"[8] which received recognition as a Tatu de Oro (Golden Tatoo) best music video.[4]
In 2011, Cuevas announced that she would no longer be making films of social commentary, but instead was working on a project in Guerrero dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles.[6]
Awards
She has received many awards, including a Certificate of Merit from the Chicago International Film Festival of 1993, the Barbara Aronofsky Latham Memorial Award in 2001 and an award as the Best Experimental Video from the 18th San Antonio Film Festival in 2012.[4]
In 2001, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired nine of Cuevas' videos for its permanent collection, which was the first time a Mexican video artist's work had been included in MoMA's collection.[6]
Selected videography
- Las 3 muertes de Lupe (1983–84)
- Noche de Paz (1989)
- Corazón Sangrante (1993)
- Un Dios para Cordelia (1995)
- Cama (1998)
- Marca registrada (2001)
- Turistas (2001–2002)
- Planetario (2002)
References
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