“Who does feminism belong to?” This is the central theme of Tamara Torres’s new photography and video exhibit that opened at the gallery on Mercer’s Trenton campus on February 28 and runs through April 4.
The show, titled “La Feminista: Soy Yo?” (translated “The Feminist: Am I?”) explores the concepts of feminism across cultures and generations and shines a light on internal and external struggles and the realities of culture and status as it relates to female empowerment.
Torres said at the exhibit opening on March 6, “Personally, [feminism] didn’t mean much to me growing up as a young Latina. I didn’t fully understand it until my early adulthood, and until this day still, I question if feminism was meant for me, or only for those women who were already privileged in this world.”
Torres was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey and suffered long-term abuse, prejudice, and abandonment throughout her life. She says that she has always taken shelter in her art, though it took time to become a form of activism.
In the early stages of her career, she started with fashion photography. She later did photos for bridal magazines, weddings and catalogs.
She said, “Fashion photography became to bougie, and when I did my portrait ‘Freedom’ is when I discovered my passion for political art. That analysis [changed things. I saw] a child being a victim in the world, and not having the means to push for what is greater beyond her years and beyond this world.”
Torres says, “I began to push into my photography more; my art, my dreams and ideas and the things that I saw around [me], and then eventually people started looking for local artists.” She continues, “It was all by accident, I still don’t think I am a political artist. I’m just literally sharing what I feel and putting my voice out there,”
Torres’s work has been shown in New York, Scotland, London and Rome. The Trenton exhibit depicts a variety of collaborations with grandmothers, mothers, and daughters from different cultures, both locally and internationally.
Torres described her motivation saying, “I heard Jane Fonda [once] and how she talked on having the honor to be a feminist and she had the means of being a feminist. And I was thinking about, what about the mothers and individuals who don’t have the means and are out here working two jobs and have to worry about their children going out there and having to repeat the cycle? Are they not feminist because of that? What about them? What about us?”
In taking each portrait and video of the models, Torres poses the question of “What does feminism mean to you?”
At the talk on March 6, Torres discussed how along her way she has made a lot of good friends. She has photographed and had the chance to work alongside them, and they have helped her gained success.
Torres mentioned that many people have been supportive of her and have kept her focused and inspired throughout her career. She singled out her long-term friend, Fatima Mughal who is an activist and part of a group known as Stand & Take Action Now for Democracy or STAND.
Later Torres and Mughal discussed their perceptions of feminism at length, worrying that it has become a “fucking trend” and that like all trends it may die.
Mughal told The VOICE that even men who try to support feminism are often patronizing.
“Men feel the need to–even when they are talking about feminism–they’re like ‘let me tell you what feminism is.’” Mughal said.
She continued, “There is a time when you need to step back, and you need to share the platform with other people…The definition of feminism to me is a mother working three jobs and taking care of all of the kids. Now see that is badass feminism to me.”
Torres says, “At the end of the day I am still a human who still has insecurities and self-doubt.”
Humanity, insecurity and self-doubt. Perhaps those are the core elements of feminism itself.
