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Emily Mata

EMILY MATA
Family
$350
Beloved Fiction
27” x 26”
Creator
26” x 36”
Whose Blood? Whose Tear?
18” x 24”
Window
30” x 24”
$200 each
Mixed Media

Email museum@westmont.edu for purchasing inquiries

I do not know what it means to be a woman. I do not know how to find comfort in a gender that is overdetermined by heteronormative family structure, white feminism, and ownership. I do not know how to find meaning in a part of my identity that I do not fully understand, but these pieces are an attempt to do so.

My works manifest my pursuit of images through forms that speak to the impact of gendered expectations on the emotional and physical female self. Through semi-abstract mark-making and obscured imagery, I express the imprecision and ambiguity inherent in an exploration of gender expression. I work in assemblage to maintain a relationship with the realities of embodied experience. It allows me to construct conglomerates of ideas, materials, and words that illustrate my search to understand the ideas and ideals of womanhood, which I am expected to embody.

From plastic toys to plaster-cast body parts, I collect and alter objects that express personal and social manifestations of femininity. I interrogate the relationship between body, belongings, and behavior. In doing so, I encounter a woman who gives, suffers, oppresses, looks, and loves.

Through my sculptural works, I address and hopefully begin to understand the characteristics and expectations of womanhood.

-Emily Mata

Family
Mixed Media
$350

Beloved Fiction
Mixed Media
27” x 26”
$200

Creator
Mixed Media
26” x 36”
$200

Whose Blood? Whose Tear?
Mixed Media
18” x 24”
$200

Window
Mixed Media
30” x 24”
$200