Don't Become a Dish to a Man…You Will Soon Break
Primary
Sonya Fe
(Los Angeles, California, 1952–Las Cruces, New Mexico, present)
Date1996
MediumScreenprint
DimensionsSheet: 20 × 26 in. (50.8 × 66.1 cm)
Image: 16 1/16 × 22 3/16 in. (40.8 × 56.3 cm)
Image: 16 1/16 × 22 3/16 in. (40.8 × 56.3 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Gilberto Cárdenas, 2017.376
Rights Statement
Collection AreaPrints and Drawings
Object number2017.376
On View
Not on viewChicana artist Sonya Fe’s work relies on surreal environments in which she positions women in distressing situations. Her paintings and prints center girls and women as the protagonists in enigmatic vignettes whose titles double as adages and premonitions, forewarning women of unrelentingly perilous realities. The artist often portrays her figures at a personal crossroads, where she says they “seem to struggle to find themselves, to find their female existence in a male’s storm that threatens their very existence.” The use of earth tones lends viewers a false sense of normalcy, but ultimately serves as the backdrop for chaotic moments of violence, reflection, and uncertainty for her leading figure. Fe’s fractured dolls speak of the challenges of existing once something is broken, as one may never heal or be the same again.
Exhibitions
