On August 2021, art historian Erin McCutcheon, whom I know because she has been researching feminist art in Mexico for many years, invited me to give a virtual lecture as part of the iteration of El Tendedero that she was planning with her students at Lycoming College.   While I didn't organize this Tendedero, I was closely involved in its development, and I knew that Erin was so familiar with the project that she could easily facilitate it, with a theoretical background that I do not possess, and with a solid understanding of the context where it was taking place.…

  The invitation to carry out El Tendedero in Portland began to take shape towards the end of 2017, when Alberto McKelligan informed me that, from his new position at Portland State University, he was collaborating with the organizers of The Women in Arts Lecture Series Committee and they were interested in having me give a lecture in the fall of 2018. What seemed like a simple talk, turned into a compact and intense four-day project that included two workshops, two Tendederos, an exhibition, and 4 lectures. I met Alberto when he was working on his PHD dissertation, which he…

Photo: Samantha Mccain Veach Introduction El Tendedero has been used in different ways, but it was particularly interesting in Indiana because the piece was adopted as a political tool by Women4Change https://www.women4changeindiana.org/ who used it to help them modify consent laws in cases of sexual abuse in Indiana. On June 2018, Ann Stack (from Women4Change) contacted me to activate the piece in Indianapolis. She had seen El Tendedero at the National Museum of Women in the Arts https://nmwa.org/exhibitions/el-tendedero/ and thought it could be a useful tool for them. Women4Change held a first trial iteration of El Tendedero on November 2nd to…

  Photo: Kevin Allen, National Museum of Women in the Arts On September 2017, I went to Washington to conduct three workshops to activate El Tendedero at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA). The groups, selected by the museum, included House of Ruth (a shelter for battered women), La Clínica del Pueblo (an organization that provides support to migrants), and a group of local artists and activists. El Tendedero was shown between November 10, 2017 and January 5, 2018, during the height of the #MeToo movement. This was the first time the piece had an exhibition of…

Photo: Yuruen Lerma I started reactivating the piece in 2009, when I was invited to the exhibition Sin Centenario ni Bicentenario at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, which dealt with the invisibility of women in the upcoming celebrations of the bicentennial anniversary of the Independence and the centennial anniversary of our Revolution in Mexico, both in 2010. Since then, the piece has been reactivated by myself and by others nonstop. You can find more information on many of the different Tendederos I have activated in different countries at my webpage El Tendedero. https://www.el-tendedero.pintomiraya.com/index.php/70-s/item/5-el-primer-tendedero The second iteration in the United…