Art as a vehicle to break stereotypes, canons of beauty imposed by social networks or magazines and make unique beauties visible. With this premise, the artist Mónica Alija embarked, practically a year ago, on an adventure that already hangs on the walls of the Casa Botines Museum.
‘Project 21’ is a series of portraits in different techniques of people with Down syndrome, a proposal that emerged in a drawing class and that sought faces with which to break the aesthetics imposed by the canons.
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Puerto Rican Sofía Jirau will become this 2022 the first model with Down Syndrome to appear in the catalog of the prestigious women’s lingerie company Victoria’s Secret. And it is that, in a society that is increasingly committed to diversity, making other beauties visible is essential.
Break stereotypes
“In magazines, on social networks, in museums and exhibitions, we are not used to seeing these faces, they are not used to other types of things and that is why it is important to make them visible,” explains Alija.
Through the Amidown León association and the photographs of Andrés de la Torre, who annually makes the solidarity calendars of Amidown, Alija worked on eleven portraits of strangers.
Gallery.
Mónica Alija, the artist, poses in front of the paintings alongside the models. /
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Through repetition techniques “because repetition is the only way to normalize what we see, what is different”, the artist worked without the protagonists present. She «she did not want to meet them to work more objectively, not to create any bond».
Art as a motor
Thanks to taking that distance with the models, Alija was able to imagine, through the photographs, their expressions in what has been “a very, very beautiful experience.”
The exhibition, which opened last Friday and will be on display until April 4, also has a small representation at the Los Adiles school in Villaobispo de las Regueras.
A way to commemorate this World Down Syndrome Day and that shows that, through art, things can also be changed.
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