Fátima Rodrigo at Enhorabuena Espacio, Madrid

Enhorabuena presents “Incendio Silencioso”, the first solo exhibition of Peruvian artist Fátima Rodrigo in Madrid, featuring new textile works and a video installation.

“Incendio Silencioso” is a collage, a visual essay that gathers fragments exploring the frictions present in the construction of the artist’s imagery and affectivity, through the exploration of elements of popular culture (especially from the 1990s and 2000s), the entertainment industry, fashion, and design. By decontextualizing phrases and pop references, Fátima’s work reveals

a historical and emotional weight, underscoring the symbolic power of cultural forms that, although not always deeply studied, carry a strong political message. Through her t-shirts, rings, disco balls, the artist draws from romantic ballads and pop music, but also from European modernism, pushing them to the extreme and highlighting the flaws and cracks of aesthetic patterns appropriated by popular culture in its aspiration to symbolize progress.

Jeanette is a video in which the artist reinterprets and embodies the British-Spanish singer Jeanette and her hit Soy Rebelde. Through this gesture, Fátima examines the construction of female identity in popular music, which in many cases was created to fulfill male fantasies (projected onto female figures). The lyrics of the song speak of individuality, freedom, and the desire to break away from traditional structures and live according to one’s own feelings and decisions. With humor and critique, Fátima re-embodies this figure to remind us of the hidden messages delivered through pop culture (music and television) to shape a female identity imposed by patriarchy. Today, the influence of Spanish music, in this context, has left a deep mark on the construction of emotions and sentimental narratives in Peruvian and Latin American culture. Fernando Iwasaki, in his book The Discovery of Spain, writes:

“Anyone who has reflected on the lyrics of the most representative genres of Latin American folklore will have noticed the abundance of spite, tragedy, suffering, and desolation, as well as jealousy, infidelity, and unrequited love. These themes also prevail in the songs and musical imagination of Peru, where at least in my adolescence there were not sufficient psychological conditions to process so much happiness and optimism received through Spanish songs…”

Through this exhibition, Fátima Rodrigo directly questions the values imposed by European aesthetics and the colonial vision towards the cultures of the “Global South.” Her works also show how the typically Western preference for Latin American products perceived as “traditional,” “artisanal,” and “precolonial” is elegantly subverted through pieces handcrafted by the artist herself. By using cheap, mass-imported plastic materials, she highlights the consequences of the impact of colonialism on Latin American culture.

-Sofía Lanusse