María Acha-Kutscher

MARIA ACHA-KUTSCHER ( Lima, Peru, 1968).
Untitled. Series "Womankind" (2013-2022).
Pigmented inks on Hahnemühle paper.
Size: 41,5 x 30 cm; 62 x 50 cm (frame).
As the artist herself explained in an interview in "Elemmental" about this series: "Womankind is an intertextual work, full of quotations from works of art, photography, film, literature and the memory of political struggle. In all the photographic collages of this project, women occupy a central place, not as objects of contemplation, but as protagonists of their own history. It is therefore crucial that the images are plausible, in order to construct a large archive of fictional documents". By combining archival images and collage, Acha-Kutscher claims an autonomous place for women, a place that was stolen from them.
María Acha-Kutscher is a Peruvian feminist visual artist based in Spain. She is co-director with Tomás Ruiz-Rivas of the experimental project Antimuseo. She studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. After finishing her studies in 1991 she moved to Mexico City, where she worked as an art director in advertising agencies. This experience as a designer has been crucial for the realisation of her artistic-militant work. In 2001 she moved to Madrid and became involved in the alternative contemporary art scene through her partner Tomás Ruiz-Rivas. Her work vindicates and makes feminism visible. Since 2010, Acha-Kutscher has focused on three long-term projects: Womankind, Indignadas and Herstorymuseum. Womankind consists of several series of digital photographic collages, created from archival images, from the internet, magazines, books and photographs taken by the artist. Among her most recognised series is Indignadas, which belongs to the project for the recovery of women's historical memory, Mujeres Trabajando para Mujeres" (Women Working for Women). Her latest project is Herstorymuseum, an imaginary museum that, through its collection and a curatorial programme, develops a rhizomatic and non-hierarchical narrative of women creators of the 20th century. Its collections are made up of images based on a visual language close to the pictogram, in which only two spots of colour are used. The exhibitions are held in public spaces, art centres, galleries and also on its website. The exhibitions establish relationships between different creators and works, thus developing a different narrative from the official art history.16 Herstorymuseum is a member of the International Association of Women's Museums (IAWM). Acha-Kutscher has shown her work at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo (CGAC), La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, The Fed Galleries @ KCAD (USA), M.A.C.L.A. (USA), Haifa Museum of Art (USA), Haifa Museum of Art (USA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (USA).), Haifa Museum of Art (Israel), International Museum of Woman-IMOW, Galería - Centro Cultural de la Universidad de Lima (Peru), Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso (Peru), Centro de la Imagen (Mexico), Foto Museo Cuatro Caminos (Mexico) Fototeca Nuevo León (Mexico), among others. In Spain at CentroCentro, Museo de la Universidad de Alicante-MUA, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Caja de Burgos, Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Santander and Cantabria-MAS, among others. He has also participated in contemporary art fairs such as Zona Marco (Mexico City). And in Madrid in the fairs ARCO, Estampa, Madrid Photo, ArteSantander, Munich Contemplo, in his country of origin Peru in the fairs Art Lima and Lima Photo.