domesticated

I wanted to create a piece describing family dynamics within Hispanic culture. I had made several observations through talking to my grandmother and several of my friends about the subject and learning from their stories and experiences. some things prevailed in the stories like machismo, womanizing and alcoholism among husbands and fathers. For instance one friend I talked to said that one time her mother decided she was leaving her abusive father and in reaction her father held their sons as ransom stating she would never see them again if she left. she went back to him in fear. My grandmother told me how every one of her sisters married alcoholics and how in one instance, her sister was held at knife point over a bath tube with her husband saying I will cut your throat out. These are some of the extreme stories but for a man to come home and immediately want his dinner be ready and served to him also unsettled me. I made the piece thinking how woman may feel like dolls always hiding, always pretending to be happy and vibrant, holding their family together. Feeling trapped in a relationship while the man is just there to make money for the family. which is why I put the male figure down within the image showing he is non existent emotionally and hard to talk to. while the image next to him is made from a traditional Mexican doll with a red stitched smile. While the actual portrait of a women is much more solemn underneath the dolls cloth exterior. Tapped within the doll.