Artemísia vulgaris, 2019

wood, sequin and satin ribbon on fabric, 170 x 80cm

Baile da Aurora Sincera, Solar dos Abacaxis, Rio de Janeiro/Brazil

Artemísia vulgaris is a banner (estandarte) that bears a reproduction of a painting by the Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi, entitled “Judith and her maid” and that illustrates the biblical passage where Judith’s beheading of Holofernes occurs.

 

An image of two women who are at risk together, an image of sorority exposed in the exhibition BAILE DA AURORA SINCERA during Carnival, a period in which the numbers of sexual violence against women increase by 90% according to 2017 data from the National Policy Secretariat for women in the federal government.

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In addition to the image, we have the title of the work, the same name in Portuguese for the medicinal plant also known as mugwort, chamomile-of-the-field, wormwood, fire-weed, weed-of-john, queen-of-herbs, among others. Used by women in the treatment of urogenital diseases, the consumption of their tea in high doses, however, facilitates the processes of interrupting an unwanted pregnancy. The sagebrush (Artemísia) leaves also make up the sky where these women lean.