Ni Una Más – The Story & the Process

I would like, first of all, to thank everyone who went to Create Whimsy to read my story, and to all of you who commented – I really appreciate it. It warms my heart to hear from you.

Debbie wrote to me to ask about the process behind this piece: “Ni Una Más”. I’m happy to share.

The background story

Beginning of March 2020 … Having spent a few weeks trying to recover from the trauma of losing a partner to suicide and everything that uncovered, my son – who was living in Mexico for a few months – invited me to come and visit so I wouldn’t spend the first month anniversary at home. I took him up on his offer as I had never been to Mexico City.

I arrived in the middle of protests and massive demonstrations against violence against women that demanded the end to femicides and attacks. Everywhere we walked – and we walked a lot – we saw signs left behind by demonstrators. Graffiti. Calls for action. Posters.

“We are no longer afraid” and “Don’t play with us”; “Not one more”. Calls for justice.

The text on “Ni una Más” was one I found painted on a wall.

The process

“Ni una Más” began with a painted piece of cloth, left behind after a monoprinting session. I liked the piece of fabric the way it was because the right hand part of it, the top especially, was “crusty” from layers of paint. It reminded me of stuccoed old building.

I cut the piece to size at 12″ x 12″ and glued it to a birch board using matte gel medium. No stitching on this one. The blue circles were done on a gelli plate – a print and ghost print – on tissue paper. Small white circles faintly painted through a stencil.

The window is a photo taken in the hamlet of Wrentham, Southern Alberta in 2017 during a trip to photograph grain elevators. We came across a ghost town – few people and very interesting buildings. The window was one on “Ron’s General Store.”

The image of the window – on the right – was printed onto Transfer Artist Paper – TAP – and transferred to tissue paper, then, collaged to the fabric. I used colouring pencils – soft Prismacolor – in orange, light blue, white and black to enhance the photo: the wooden frame on the window, the white and reflections, the darks of the panes and a bit of blue here and there. As TAP is transparent, the colours on the fabric came through after the transfer was done. I wanted to make some of those colours more prominent.

The image of the door is one I found on the Internet. I liked the colours as they went with the piece I of fabric I had chosen for this. I copied the photo into PowerPoint – which is my way of working – and enhanced the colours before printing it in my inkjet printer onto copy paper and transferring it to the piece with matte medium. Once again, I used the colouring pencils to add some of the details that I lost in the transfer: the brick at the top, the black metal rivets, the turquoise and some of the orange.

The image of “Ni Una Más” was copied into PowerPoint, resized and printed onto tissue paper. Then it was collaged on. Details were added with acrylic paint.

And that, in short, is the story of how “Ni Una Más” came to be. I hope you will take some of the ideas and make them your own.

Thanks for reading. Until I write again,

Ana