Mexico City, Aug 19 (EFE).- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) invited the artist with Puerto Rican roots Clotilde Jiménez, who lives in Mexico City, to make the artistic poster that will be exhibited at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and another in the Paralympics of the same fair.
Only seven artists were selected for this project, called the Cultural Olympics; at the end of the competition, the works will become part of the Olympic Museum. Jiménez was invited as a resident of the Mexican capital.
“As an artist, my job is to tell the stories and criticize if there is something to criticize. The Olympic and Paralympic Games are a perfect platform for it because they are international and they take them seriously,” the 33-year-old creator told EFE.
Jiménez explained that he was inspired by the fascist poster of the 1924 Olympic Games to vindicate Afro-descendants in the 2024 Paris fair.
“When I started my research I see the Olympics from 100 years ago, I saw a group of six young white men, without hair, with a greeting like Hitler’s. I wanted to do the same, represent Paris as I know it”, explained.
Jiménez, an Afro-descendant native of Hawaii and Puerto Rican parents, transformed the poster that Jean Droit designed to be the official one for Paris 1924 and 100 years later replaced the white men with artistic swimmers from the Mexico team who appear with black and brown bodies .
“In my art I try to make an image of what I want to see in the future. I wanted to use my hand up like Hitler, but change it to a black hand and talk about a theme that I explore in my art, race and gender. It is a team that I think we will see in the future due to immigration and mix”, added the American.
The piece that Jiménez designed for the Paralympics is about a relay race of black amputee runners.
For both works he used Mexican elements, from the Amate paper, of North American origin, to the colors and features of the athletes who have Afro-Mexican characteristics.
Jiménez arrived in Mexico after leaving London, where he studied for a master’s degree, at the start of Brexit, to set up a studio in the center of Mexico City, from where he has drawn inspiration for his latest works. EFE
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2023-08-19 17:22:39
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