This is one of Maldonado's 'Three Sisters / Tres Hermanas' series made in 2019 and 2020 to commemorate their mother and her two sisters. In Mexican and Indigenous cultures the...
This is one of Maldonado's "Three Sisters / Tres Hermanas" series made in 2019 and 2020 to commemorate their mother and her two sisters. In Mexican and Indigenous cultures the "Three Sisters / Tres Hermanas" are a culinary reference for some of the most important foods: corn, squash, and beans. They also are often grown together: the corn grows tall, the beans climb up the corn, and the squash covers the ground below. Depicted here is "Felidonia (La Prieta)," the youngest of the sisters, the squash. La Prieta references tan or brown skin. The other two paintings in the series are V.'s mother, Amelia, who was affectionately called "La Guera," translating to the one with the light complexion. The 3rd painting is of the eldest sister, V's Godmother "Esperanza (La Negra)." La Negra was Esperanza's nickname, and it references that she is the darkest-skinned, the bean, of the Tres Hermanas.
2022 - 2023 Claiming Space: An Exhibition of Large Scale Paintings, including Jeremy Okai Davis, V. Maldonado,Elizabeth Malaska, and Michelle Ross. Curated by Carson Legree, Archer Gallery, Clark College, Vancouver, WA November 16, 2022 to January 14, 2023 2022, Un Rinconcito En El Cielo, Froelick Gallery, Portland OR
Publications
2022 Froelick Gallery ad in First American Art Magazine