El tigre con salsa violeta
Exhibition | Anna Jonsson
October 2 / December 18 de 2021
Open
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 5:00 / 8:30 pm
Saturday 11:00 am / 2:00 pm
Anna Jonsson always thinks in colors
Anna Jonsson investigates the theory of Dunbar’s number
Anna Jonsson considers herself to be a bad feminist
Anna Jonsson follows Masih Alinejad on Twitter
Anna Jonsson works on the back of a tiger…
“There is no direct path into the world without an intermediary to bring it to us, that decides which version of the world is going to be provided to us.” Sin Miedo, Judith Butler (Taurus Publications)
I enjoy talking with Anna and discussing all different types of topics. In her reflections, she never goes to the usual places, never …, she always offers unique points of view. These deceptively simple reflections amaze me. They are unlike any I have previously read, heard, or contemplated. She always reveals a different side of things, an alternative version of the world.
During our conversations for this exhibit, she did it again. From her concept of the force she calls, “The Tiger” (a creative or destructive force) to the position she adopts in her relationship with feminism. She describes the diverse, complex feminist movement with positive and negative nuances in these terms, “Feminism comes on very strong and in waves but it is evolving very slowly and is exasperating.”
La mujer del mago
Nada nuevo bajo el sol
Ante la duda la tetuda
Peddo
El tigre con salsa violeta (The Tiger in Violet Sauce) delves into the themes that interest and even obsess Anna Jonsson. The themes she works with almost compulsively in her art are equality, the discrimination and abuse faced by women and children, violence, and the creative force. She materializes her ideas using a variety of formats and techniques (sculpture, textile art, video, performance) and infusing them with her characteristic acid irony and humor.
There are two main themes in the exhibition. The theme of “the tiger” represents the creative force that drives her actions and moves her creative process. The project in the exhibit is a continuation and development of the artwork, “The Tiger in Me”. This is an inner force that sometimes dominates her will; an unstoppable alter ego. Although I dare to guess that this force also awakens in her strong ambivalent feelings, from the need to pursue and restrain “the tiger” to the desire to stop it.
This tiger arrives in her nightmares and impels her to create disturbing pieces such as Nooooo… (2021) or Nothing New Under the Sun (2021). Using embroidery, she unravels and denounces situations in which women’s bodies continue to be dissected and tortured. Perhaps the issues that she raises also leave their mark on her own body. Perhaps, as Michael Foucault states “The body of the speaker is exposed to danger.” And on the contrary, it is also the tiger that she seeks and pursues, that she feels as her shadow and pays homage to in the works The Tiger (2020), Don’t Leave Me (2021), Dreams Come True (2021), or Me and My Shadow (2021).
Arqueada
I told you
La cuchara
My little shadow
I see you
Me parto
La pupa
The other theme in the exhibition is the life of the character, La Supervioleta. This character, for Anna, is the prototypical feminist woman, over 40 years old, urban, good-hearted but a-know-it-all, constantly fighting to be more feminist than the rest. Jessa Crispin in her 2016 book, Why I’m Not a Feminist writes that “Reclamation is hard work. Finding value in your group’s characteristics means always having to confront the darkness in those characteristics.” Anna Jonsson delves into that dark side and demands self-criticism within feminism with her character La Supervioleta. She assures that “to be strong we must be able to laugh at ourselves.”
In 2008, she began a series of Supervioleta videos, intending to make one every year and show it on her YouTube channel, @TheSupervioleta, on March 8th. However, according to Jonsson, “as a good bad feminist, I have not fulfilled my aim of making one every year. I made them when I felt like it. I am not a serious activist. I sincerely believe that my feminist struggle needs to be fun. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult to continually point out injustices, even minor ones. I don’t know, … such as counting the photos in a newspaper and compare how many are of men and how many are of women and tell everyone around me.”
Presented in the exhibition are three La Supervioleta videos she completed this summer; Sofagate 2, Al Ataque (Ready to Attack), and La Lenta (The Slow One The people close to her are fundamental in the process of making her videos. They support the feminist cause and her project with their acting and technical assistance. When taking photos and shooting videos she likes to work with one clean take and without post-production. Maintaining a high level of spontaneity and playfulness in the process is important to her. In order “to transmit the message and make it bearable. I think that a serious message gets under your skin with laughter.”
The premiere of the performance La gran batalla supervioleta (The Great Supervioleta Battle) brings the themes of this exhibit together. This is a duel (Drum-Duel) between two drummers (Amanda Palma and Carolina Cebrino) led by a master of ceremonies (Greta García). The three Supervioletas, rap during the battle. They are competing to see “Who is the best feminist?”
The exhibition El tigre con salsa violeta brings Anna Jonsson’s world to us, the version she has decided to share with us. Reflection, discussion, and even controversy are served up. We will see where they lead us.
Goleada
Into the woods
La baronesa trepante
Moo – Too
La pensadora
Se lo han buscado I
Se lo han buscado II
Se lo han buscado III
Abrazaárboles
Sed de mal
Glitterbomb
El rapto I
El rapto II
A muerte
Círculo baboso
Gräsligt
La cabreada
Jasmine