The MAMT inaugurates 'Mari Chordà... and many other things'

The Museum of Modern Art in Tarragona celebrates the figure and work of the artist, poet, editor, cultural manager and feminist activist Mari Chordà with an exhibition co-produced with the MACBA that can be visited until April 28. Mari Chordà... and many other things is made up of dozens of paintings, sculptures, books and various documentation linked to Mari Chordà's career, the exhibition spreads the facet of the artist from Amposta and at the same time claims his figure and trajectory in the field of social and cultural activism and feminism. In this sense, deputy Òscar Sanchez has pointed out that Chordà "is an example of free artistic expression, and at the same time represents a perfect combination between art, commitment and territory".

At the same time, as he added, the exhibition "is part of MAMT's commitment to vindicate art made by women". As the director of the MAMT, Manel Margalef, highlighted during the event, "the projection of artists from the demarcation, such as Mari Chordà, goes through projects like this, which create a network between museums". In this sense, the director of the MACBA, Elvira Dyangani Ose, has emphasized that the project, which will be expanded with publications and educational activities related to the artist, "is the result of joint work and the network of solidarity that has created between both institutions".

All of this forms "an indissociable link that supports an attitude and convictions that determine the backbone of his work and his biography", as the art historian Teresa Grandes points out to introduce the Mari Chordà temporary exhibition. .and many other things.

The aim of the exhibition to make visible the art made by women, thus compensating for their scarce presence in the world of art throughout history, coincides with that of the Contemporary Artists exhibition, which since January has also been exhibits at the MAMT and which includes works by 15 authors, including one by Mari Chordà. This collective exhibition will remain open until December and will be complemented by parallel activities around the works, the authors and the general objective of the exhibition.

Artist and activist

Mari Chordà Recasens (Amposta, 1942) is a painter, sculptor, poet, cultural activist, feminist. She was one of the pioneers of her generation to express free female sexuality, to talk about pleasure, motherhood and lesbian relationships in her painting and poetry. And in 1964, while still studying Fine Arts in Barcelona, he painted the first Vagina. He has exhibited his works in different places in Catalonia, the state and Europe, such as the Casino d'Amposta, the Cercle Artístic de Tortosa, the Pati de la Diputació de Tarragona, the MAMT, the Pati Llimona de Barcelona, the center of Contemporary Culture in Barcelona (CCCB), the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the Tate Modern in London or the Mayoral Gallery in Paris.

In 2022 he received the Sant Jordi Cross awarded by the Generalitat. As a cultural and social activist, in 1968, he founded Llar a Amposta, a space that hosted concerts, exhibitions and other activities for two years. When she moved to Barcelona, in the 1970s, she created La Sal with a group of women, a feminist library bar designed as a space for gatherings, support and advice, which would lead to a publishing house of women's literature and essays. Mari Chordà has also been a screenwriter, rhapsode, poet, lyricist in musical projects and promoter of conferences in the field of art or feminism, among other activities.