Milk is the sum of two environments, the intimate and the collective. It is a self-portrait, I usually depict my face in my work since I always include myself in order to point out to others. in adittion I represent the struggle of growing up and with that my work drags the pain, the drama and the passion that this process entails.

I give visibility to my surroundings and to the conflicts in Puerto Rico. Living in Puerto Rico is always a struggle, women have to fight to achieve our own security. At the time I made the piece, several demonstrations were taking place on the island by feminist groups, to declare a state of emergency due to the growing wave of gender violence. 

In this piece I highlight the image of the woman in revolt controlling the bull, the bull could even represent the inner beasts that we try to control but that paradoxically at the same time we feed. In this piece I create representations where I develop an antithesis of the judgments of the body to then document with my work the evolution of the figure of the woman.
In this piece, I take advantage of the textures of the canvas. It is important to highlight the material: embroidery and reused textiles that I transform. I’m interested in liberating these techniques and materials from their docile association to achieve revolt in both concept and form. 

Elsa María Meléndez, April 29th, 2022