Mother…the Color of Life

That’s the name of the art exhibition that is currently showing at Chiclayo’s Cultural Center through June 14th. The building has the appearance of a remodeled hacienda that had been carefully maintained.

There are three smallish exhibition halls that for this showing contained paintings and sculptures from local artists representing the communities of Chiclayo, Ferreñafe, Trujillo, Cajamarca and Piura.

The exhibition theme is intended to be a celebration of Mother’s Day, though to my untrained eye in some of the more expressionist paintings it was difficult to see a connection between what I was looking at and the honoring of mothers. 

The photos are scanned from the brochure handed out at the door and unfortunately do not accurately depict the vibrancy of the colors and contrast. 

Comparing this photo I took with its counterpart above in the brochure will illustrate the difference.

I was impressed with all the works on display, but there was one painting that I returned to several times during our tour. There was something about the woman’s expression that spoke to me. Maribel claimed to appreciate it also, though I don’t believe she did. We stopped at the administration office on our way out and got the phone number of the artist. We phoned him and a day later met at a restaurant for lunch. In discussing his painting he explained that the woman was his mother; that she had had a hard life and that both her expression and the surrounding symbolism  was intended to portray her courage, strength and dignity as she faced her difficulties and carried out her responsibilities without complaint. I think that’s what I saw….that’s what she was saying to me.

I made him an offer. There was some discussion. We shook hands. He chuckled and said, “I can’t believe I’m selling my mother.” I think his mom will approve.