Ana Lorente’s Artist Book “Archives [0] A fragmentary inquiry on female criminalization during the Belle Époque” now available for order

03/28/2023

We are pleased to announce that Ana Lorente’s Artist Book “Archives [0] A fragmentary inquiry on female criminalization during the Belle Époque” now available for order, Ana is the recipient of the 22nd Reminders Photography Stronghold Grant. Ana participated in our Photobook making Master Class, and during the exhibition in March 2023, she updated the contents of the book, which was printed and bound by herself. The edition totally only be made 14, corresponding to the 14 studies included in the book.

The names of Leonor, Felisa, Mariana, Amparo, Antonia, Victorina, Francisca, Enriqueta or Tomasa came up in the news of the Spanish press during the Belle Époque –between last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century–. They were accused of disobedience, abortion, prostitution, presumption of childbirth, adultery, kidnapping or witchery among other crimes, and their bodies were examined, on a regular basis, searching for evidence that sustained the accusations. In the police station, in their houses, in the cell of the jail or in the morgue, policemen, forensics, gynecologists or anatomists searched for the signs of those called criminal women.

At the end of the 19th century, the «feminine issue» occupied a central part of the scientific, philosophical and medical debates that translated into an interest in defining the place that women should occupy in Spanish society and in the family, as well as what their rights and obligations should be. With the rise of feminist movements and the proliferation of ideas in defense of the independence of women, there was an increase in tensions in the debate on their role, as well as a greater interest in redefining arguments sustained in evidence of markedly anti-feminist character. Different theories were developed in the scientific arena that reinforce the classical ideas about the inferiority of women based on the anatomy presented through scientific methodology.

The stories of several accused women guide this research, along with the identification and seclusion systems that occurred at the turn of the 20th century. Press archives and museums –both archival forms of preserving the past– has been the primary sources to investigate on the one hand, some of the stories mades of voids and silence, and on the other hand the form of the scientific and medical discourse spread more than a hundred years ago, about the characteristics of the allegedly criminal behavior.

Archives [0] A fragmentary inquiry on female criminalization during the Belle Époque explores the disturbing relation between narrative, reality and fiction through individual stories, in where the edges of our nature seems to appear. In them, we could see the reflection of how we have been affected, in the most literal sense of the word, by domination and misogyny. Their particular stories are like mirrors to me: would I be like them if I had lived 130 years ago?.

The project has been possible thanks to: Museo Olavide, Madrid; Institut d’Historia de la Ciencia i la Medicina Lòpez Piñero, Valencia; Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London; Museo di Antropologia criminale Cesare Lombroso, Torino; Museo de Anatomía Javier Puerta UCM, Madrid and Museo d’Historia de la Medicina de Catalunya; Museo del Calzado José María Amat Amer, Elda; Museu de la Perruqueria Raffel Pagès, Barcelona and Museu Frederic Marès.

Ana Lorente

[ Book Specifications ]

Ana Lorente’s Artistbook: “Archives [0] A fragmentary inquiry on female criminalization during the Belle Époque”
Size : 176mm x 250mm, 240 pages, plus 3 booklets, 2 archival images, 2-page newspaper replica appendix.
Language: Spanish, English (Japanese booklet included, but not all texts are translated)
Price: 23,100 yen (including tax).
Number of editions: 14, all signed with the artist’s handwritten edition number.

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