Textile Installations and Embroidery by Elsa María Meléndez Torres

De la memoria, la quimera de un despojo, 2008-2014 Installation / Sound textiles printed in silkscreen, padded and stitched, armoire, mirrors and sound piece by Claudio Chea
De la memoria, la quimera de un despojo, 2008-2014.
Installation / Sound.
textiles printed in silkscreen, padded and stitched, armoire, mirrors and sound piece by Claudio Chea.
El ingenio colectivo o la maldición de la cotorra, 2010 - 2014 Installation / sound diverse textiles printed in silkscreen, painted, padded and stitched foam, pins, painted shoes and wood
El ingenio colectivo o la maldición de la cotorra, 2010 – 2014.
Installation / sound.
Textiles printed in silkscreen, painted, padded and stitched foam, pins, painted shoes and wood.
(detail) El ingenio colectivo o la maldición de la cotorra, 2010 - 2014 Installation / sound diverse textiles printed in silkscreen, painted, padded and stitched foam, pins, painted shoes and wood
El ingenio colectivo o la maldición de la cotorra, 2010 – 2014.
Installation / sound.
Textiles printed in silkscreen, painted, padded and stitched, foam, pins, painted shoes and wood.
El ingenio colectivo o la maldición de la cotorra, 2010 - 2014 Installation / sound diverse textiles printed in silkscreen, painted, padded and stitched foam, pins, painted shoes and wood
El ingenio colectivo o la maldición de la cotorra, 2010 – 2014.
Installation / sound.
Textiles printed in silkscreen, painted, padded and stitched, foam, pins, painted shoes and wood.
Lo que faltaba, 2009 transfers on padded canvas, diverse textiles and embroidery
Lo que faltaba, 2009.
Transfers on padded canvas, diverse textiles and embroidery.
Series Perretas: Los güelestacas, 2014 embroidery on canvas, plastic stretcher and other synthetic materials
Series Perretas: Los Güelestacas, 2014.
Embroidery on canvas, plastic stretcher and other synthetic materials.

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“The idiosyncrasy of the habitual defines my production. In my installations, I invite the viewer to caress the content while I present unstable and vulnerable situations. The labor-intensive production points towards transience, transformation, and metamorphosis. A dark vision of humanity, convulsion, ruin and nostalgia lie in the repetitive process of sewing, embroidering, mending, sorting and accumulating objects and materials. I approach insubordination, innocence, fragility, and human perversity as concepts, and I add playful elements to confront the viewer with different levels of reality.”

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Elsa María Meléndez Torres is a writer, painter and creator of installations. She studied at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, where she earned a BFA in 1997. She won first prize in the Engraving Arts Competition of the Puerto Rican Athenaeum in 2006 as well as a Lexus scholarship in 2010. From 1999 to 2006 she worked as Exhibition Coordinator at the Museum of Art Exhibition of Caguas, Puerto Rico, where she now serves as Curator.