Throughout history, women have systematically been excluded making them invisible and stereotyped. Although we have managed to change the scenario positively, there is still a lot of work to be done.
This is the case of Tessa Velázquez, a successful businesswoman, entrepreneur, and leader. Proud of her Latin roots and an avid art lover, Tessa runs several businesses and projects, among them is Baked & Wired, a bakery that produces small-batch baked goods prepared with family recipes and artisan coffee from roasters across the country. It is also a space with a social and cultural purpose. In the heart of Georgetown, the place stands out for being a place that offers a wonderful gastronomic experience, all the while supporting and spreading the career of local artists.
You may have heard that "in unity there is strength". Partnering to do what we love and send our message of women empowerment is necessary and dignifying. For this reason, Baked and Wired joins Arte Original, a Latin American art gallery - also managed and directed by a art loving businesswoman - to expand its radius of action by disseminating the work of Latin American artists and elevating the gastronomic experience and cultural repertoire that it offers.
Belkis Granada (1) and Yudy Márquez develop works with codes and shapes typical of naive art: many color contrasts, defined contours, lack of perspective and great expressive power as is recognizable in popular Latin American aesthetics. The dynamic work of Rosa Salazar is interested in representing the movement and spirit of certain animals that are in her affective memories.
Manuela Armand develops a pictorial investigation on the memory and the ephemeral and fleeting perception of landscapes. Graciela Zúñiga makes a kind of abstract, lyrical, spontaneous, and emotional representation of the territories we inhabit, illustrating all of them and none in particular. Ana Vanessa Urvina (3) expresses herself through her small gardens that refer to chromatic luminosity, the exuberance and abundance of tropical nature.
Paula Dunner (2) explores the possibilities of abstraction while creating scenarios inspired by biology and the infinite forms of the living world.
Belén Larroulet (4) composes in painting with the same creative processes with which she composes musical pieces: playful, rhythmic, and spontaneously.
In case it's still not clear, there is a greater purpose - intentionally or not - behind everything these women do. Fortunately, we live in a world different from that of past centuries and women can participate actively and freely as creators. Creators of dreams and also feats. Of struggles and victories. To be a woman is to be more than the muse of the artist: it is to be inspiration and action.
Telling stories like Tessa's or admiring the work of a great artist and knowing her name helps to lay a solid foundation for the women of the future. Historically they have been invisible, limited. Commemorating March as Women’s History Month allows us to recognize the struggle they gave in the past that brought us here, understand the context we are facing and forge the future.
*The exhibition of Arte Original works will take place from March 7th to April 13th on Baked and Wired: 1052 Thomas Jefferson St NW, Washington, DC 20007, United States.