Clarice Gonçalves
Born: Brasília, Brazil
Lives: Taguatinga DF, Brazil
Universally Deplored and Respected, 2012
Paint and embroidery
23.5cm x 18cm
Clarice Gonçalves (1985) graduated in Visual Arts from the University of Brasilia in 2008, and has been exhibiting her research in painting since 2005, as well as her research on female socialization, sexuality and motherhood. Clarice's work is represented in Brasília by Galeria Referência and in São Paulo by Galeria Almeida Prado.
This artwork is about care work, domestic labour, the invisible, constant and immense load of always caring and a broader issue: who cares for those who care? What happens when those who care are broken, ill or incapable from the same burden that suffocates them? “Mothers can’t fail,” according to Gonçalves. This painting was made when the artist was pregnant, “ I could already see myself falling apart and was already hoping to reframe the ruins of myself, using the scraps and leftovers from the studio…the threads from that tearing of the canvas fabric turned into this textile adornment.”