Notable women of Uruguyan culture honored in street mural

Montevideo, Mar 9 (efe-epa).- A new mural has emerged in the landscape of Montevideo with the faces of four great Uruguayan artists next to the historic Solís Theater on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

The work “Nosotras” (We), which blends in blue the faces of poets Delmira Agustini (1886-1914) and Idea Vilariño (1920-2009), painter Petrona Viera (1895-1960) and singer Lágrima Ríos (1924- 2006), was created by the muralist María Noel Silvera for a contest that sought to celebrate the contribution of women to the country’s culture.

Maria Noel Silvera, who goes by her artist name “Noe Cor,” told Efe after the inauguration of the work that choosing the artists was difficult but she went with a diversity of disciplines.

“It seemed important to me to show the women’s faces, to connect with their gazes, which are quite impressive. And to start recognizing women who were in our culture, who are historically invisible, and begin to show them in a huge way… They were here, they were part of history,” she said.

Regarding the palette and composition, Silvera said that it was an attempt to “homogenize” the aesthetics of the photographs from different periods that were the basis for the design and in turn to make it harmonious with the open space of the Solís Theater, considered an emblem of the historic center of Montevideo.

Noe Cor said that she decided to avoid naming the mural a distant “Ellas” (They) and call the work “Nosotras” (We) instead.

“The story was always told by men, and women were always ‘they’ in the third person, so it is a matter of starting to tell the story in the first person – we do this, we paint this, we say this,” she said.

Malena Muyala, the director of the Solís Theater, which organized the mural contest together with Municipality B of the Uruguayan capital, highlighted the importance of promoting greater visibility of women’s contribution to culture.

“Already from the other day when Noe Cor finished it, we saw how people come, stop, begin to inquire, investigate who the artists are – and that will surely generate a whole spectrum of actions, of sensations that we do not know yet,” she emphasized.

Muyala added that the leadership of the renowned theater will seek to promote a plan that encourages more young female artists like Noe Cor to be involved in various activities such as working on the space surrounding the wall of the new mural, which will be revitalized. EFE-EPA

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