Berenice Olmedo

Berenice Olmedo (born 1987) is a Mexican sculptor and performance artist. Born in Oaxaca, Mexico,[1] she was educated at the Universidad de la Américas in Puebla, Mexico,[2] and is now based in Mexico City.[3] Her work addresses the body, illness and care, as well as the biopolitics of disability and prosthetic devices.[1][4][5]

Olmedo's sculptures are constructed from materials and devices from the medical field, including scoliosis corsets and prosthetic appendages.[6][7] Olmedo displayed sculptures made from secondhand orthotic devices in her first solo exhibition which took place in 2018 in Cologne.[8] A review in Art Papers magazine states that her work "calls into question how ableist and anthropocentric frameworks operate across the sociopolitical spectrum."[9][8] Writing in Flash Art magazine, Jane Ursula Harris reflects on Olmeda's work as a disruption of "ableist standards of normativity" that allows viewers to "recognize the wellness of diverse bodies."[10]

In her 2012–2015 project Canine Tomatocommerce or The Political-Ethical Dilemma of Merchandise, Olmeda gathered the carcasses of stray dogs killed by vehicles on the streets near Puebla.[11] She created various products from the corpses to display as art including soap made from dog fat and boots, jackets, bags, and fur products from dog skin.[11] She also sold these items at a flea market in Puebla.[11] The carcasses themselves were never directly displayed.[11] Her work was acquired for the Boros Collection in Berlin in 2022.[12]

Olmedo has exhibited her work in the 36th São Paulo Art Biennial,[13] the Berkeley Museum and Film Archive,[14] Museum Trondheim,[7] ICA Boston,[13] the Kunsthalle Basel,[15] the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "Berenice Olmedo". Jan Kaps Gallery. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  2. ^ "Artists-in-Dialogue: Berenice Olmedo + Medical Humanities". Rice University. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  3. ^ Smolik, Noemi (December 2020). "Berenice Olmedo (review)". Artforum. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  4. ^ Schöneich, Fabian. "Berenice Olmedo". Cura Magazine. 38 (Generational Issue). Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  5. ^ "Berenice Olmedo: Where Things Happen". Fondazione Imago Mundi. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  6. ^ "BAMPFA Presents US Premieres by Three Internationally Acclaimed Contemporary Artists". BAMPFA. 15 July 2025. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b Palomino, Camilia. "Berenice Olmedo considers how technology mediates life". Art21. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  8. ^ a b Watlington, Emily (May 2020). "Berenice Olmedo's Sculptures Use Debris and Dog Caracasses to Honor Those on Society's Margins". Art in America: 12. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  9. ^ Jones, Christopher (4 January 2022). "Berenice Olmedo—Radical Alterity and the Crip/Disabled Subject". Art Papers. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  10. ^ Harris, Jane Ursula (Summer 2022). "Berenice Olmedo: The Myth of Autonomy". Flash Art. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d Valerio, María Antonia González; Tratnik, Polona (28 June 2023). "8.7: Where Does the Human as Animal Take Place?". Through the Scope of Life: Art and (Bio)Technologies Philosophically Revisited. Springer International Publishing. p. 161. ISBN 9783031317361. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  12. ^ "Boros Collection, Current Exhibition". Boros Collection. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  13. ^ a b c "Berenice Olmedo". São Paulo Art Biennial. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  14. ^ "Berenice Olmedo". Berkeley Museum and Film Archive. 26 April 2025. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  15. ^ "Berenice Olmedo". Contemporary Art Library. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
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