Malinche as Metaphor Traveling Exhibition
FAIN: GI-269688-20
Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO 80204-2788)
Victoria I. Lyall (Project Director: August 2019 to present)
Implementation
of an exhibition on the legacy of Malinche (died, 1529), an indigenous Mexican
Gulf Coast woman who was the explorer Hernando Cortés’ translator, cultural
interpreter, and mistress during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire
(1519–21).
The Denver Art Museum (DAM), in collaboration with the Fowler Museum at UCLA, will present a traveling exhibition, Malinche as Metaphor, including public programs, publication, and a symposium. Co-curated by the DAM’s curator of pre-Columbian art Victoria Lyall, Ph.D., chief curator of the Fowler Museum Matthew H. Robb, Ph.D., and independent scholar Terezita Romo, this interdisciplinary exhibition will debut at the DAM from November 15, 2020 to February 28, 2021, then travel to the Fowler Museum from April 4, 2021 to July 25, 2021. Malinche as Metaphor is the first comprehensive exploration of the historical and cultural legacy of an indigenous woman at the heart of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico (1519–1521). Through historical and legal documents, scholarly and literary impressions, visual culture, and multi-media content, this exhibition traces Malinche’s continuing and contested legacy as a participant in the events of the Conquest.
Associated Products
She’s been branded a traitor. A new exhibition says Mexican icon Malinche was anything but (Article)Title: She’s been branded a traitor. A new exhibition says Mexican icon Malinche was anything but
Author: Carolina A. Miranda
Abstract: She’s been branded a traitor. A new exhibition says Mexican icon Malinche was anything but. Co-curated by Victoria I. Lyall of the Denver Art Museum, independent curator Terezita Romo and Matthew H. Robb of UCLA’s Fowler Museum, this groundbreaking show [Traitor, Survivor, Icon] gives thorough reconsideration to a figure who played a critical political role as interpreter but who left no direct record of her words and her person.
Year: 2022
Primary URL:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-05-03/mexican-icon-malinche-branded-a-traitor-but-denver-exhibition-proves-otherwiseAccess Model: Open access
Format: Newspaper
Publisher: Los Angeles Times
Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche (Catalog)Title: Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche
Author: Victoria I. Lyall
Author: Terezita Romo
Abstract: Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche examines the historical and cultural legacy of La Malinche. Both reviled as a traitor and hailed as the mother of Mexico, Malinche is an enigmatic figure whose legacy has been the subject of controversy and adulation from the 1500s through the present day.
An enslaved Indigenous girl who became Hernán Cortés’ interpreter and cultural translator, Malinche stood center stage in one of the most significant events of modern history. She was linguistically gifted and played a key role in the transactions, negotiations, and conflicts between the Spanish and the Indigenous populations of Mexico that impacted the course of global politics for centuries to come. Significantly, as mother to Cortés’ first-born son she became the symbolic progenitor of a modern Mexican nation, built on both Indigenous and Spanish heritage.
While Malinche has been the subject of numerous historical publications and works of art, Traitor, Survivor, Icon is the first museum exhibition to present a comprehensive visual exploration of Malinche’s enduring impact on communities living on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Five hundred years after her death, her image and legacy remain relevant to conversations around female empowerment, Indigeneity, and national identity throughout the Americas. Traitor, Survivor, Icon will establish and examine her symbolic import and the ways in which artists, scholars, and activists through time have appropriated her image to interpret and express their own experiences and agendas from the 1500s through today.
Year: 2022
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Denver Art Museum and Yale University Press
Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche (Exhibition)Title: Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche
Curator: Victoria I. Lyall
Curator: Terezita Romo
Abstract: Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche examines the historical and cultural legacy of La Malinche. Both reviled as a traitor and hailed as the mother of Mexico, Malinche is an enigmatic figure whose legacy has been the subject of controversy and adulation from the 1500s through the present day.
An enslaved Indigenous girl who became Hernán Cortés’ interpreter and cultural translator, Malinche stood center stage in one of the most significant events of modern history. She was linguistically gifted and played a key role in the transactions, negotiations, and conflicts between the Spanish and the Indigenous populations of Mexico that impacted the course of global politics for centuries to come. Significantly, as mother to Cortés’ first-born son she became the symbolic progenitor of a modern Mexican nation, built on both Indigenous and Spanish heritage.
While Malinche has been the subject of numerous historical publications and works of art, Traitor, Survivor, Icon is the first museum exhibition to present a comprehensive visual exploration of Malinche’s enduring impact on communities living on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Five hundred years after her death, her image and legacy remain relevant to conversations around female empowerment, Indigeneity, and national identity throughout the Americas. Traitor, Survivor, Icon will establish and examine her symbolic import and the ways in which artists, scholars, and activists through time have appropriated her image to interpret and express their own experiences and agendas from the 1500s through today.
Year: 2022
Primary URL:
http://https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/malinche