The IDB Cultural Center is proud to host the exhibit “Perceptive Strokes: Women Artists of Panama.” The event honors the Republic of Panama as the host country of the IDB Annual Meeting, which will take place from March 14–20, 2013.
The exhibition highlights the history of modern and contemporary art by Panamanian women and will include paintings, photographs, sculptures, and video art from the 1920s to the present. The artworks, selected by Panamanian curator Dr. Monica E. Kupfer, reveal the ways in which a varied group of female artists have experienced and represented significant geopolitical events in the nation’s history. Their interpretations also show the position of women in Panamanian society, and their views of themselves through their own and others’ eyes.
“Although they share gender and geography, the women artists in the exhibition Perceptive Strokes are not similar,” states curator Kupfer. “Their years of birth range from the 1880s to the 1970s, and their exposure to artistic and formal education varies from being self-taught to holding graduate degrees in fine arts. The group includes a working single mother as well as a former First Lady; young artists, but also painters who have passed away.”
According to Iván Duque, Chief of the IDB’s Cultural, Solidarity and Creativity Affairs Division, “Perceptive Strokes represents to the IDB an opportunity to express on behalf of women artists our commitment as a development organization to contribute every day to protect women’s rights and to ensure the necessary leadership role in guiding society.”
Kupfer is an independent art historian, critic and curator. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History with a concentration in contemporary Latin American art. Kupfer is president of the Art & Culture Foundation in Panama, and founding director of the Panama Art Biennial. Her most recent published title is Women in the Arts of Panama in the Twentieth Century.
Among the artists are: Susana Arias, Beatrix (Trixie) Briceño, Fabiola Buritica, Coqui Calderón, María Raquel Cochez, Donna Conlon, Isabel De Obaldía, Sandra Eleta, Ana Elena Garuz, Teresa Icaza, Iraida Icaza, Amelia Lyons de Alfaro, Lezlie Milson, Rachelle Mozman, Roser Muntañola de Oduber, Amalia Rossi de Jeanine, Olga Sánchez, Olga Sinclair, Victoria Suescum, Amalia Tapia, Alicia Viteri, and Emily Zhukov.
The pieces on display will be on loan from the Museum of Contemporary Art and private collections in Panama, as well as from the OAS Art Museum of the Americas.
Free event and open to the public from March 7 to June 1, 2013. Mon-Sun: 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. A full-color catalog will accompany the exhibition. Media interested in interviewing the curator must RSVP by sending an email to Fadrique Iglesias at figlesias@iadb.org. Pictures with flash are not allowed.
As part of the program, on March 7, the Cultural Center is presenting an illustrated lecture by Monica Kupfer entitled "Gender and Geography: Women Artists from Panama."