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Francine Masiello Gender, Dress, and Market The Commerce o f Citizenshi p in Latin Americ a La sudaca ird a la venta. —Diamel a Eltit, El cuarto mundo In August 199 4 visual artis t Juan Davil a cause d a minor scanda l when reproduction s o f hi s paintin g o f Simo n Boliva r i n dra g circulate d throughout Chile. The "Liberator" of Spanish America was portrayed with rouge an d lipstick ; beneat h a flowere d cap e an d a militar y uniform , h e exposed the breasts of a woman. This camp representation of one of South America's mos t revere d foundin g father s dre w immediat e protest s fro m Venezuelan an d Colombia n diplomat s an d irritated Chilea n officials . As a result, FONDART, the sponsoring organization of fellowships fo r Chilea n artists, rejected Davila's petition for funding an d refused t o entertain futur e proposals fro m individua l applicants . The episod e is certainly reminiscen t of th e NEA's uproa r ove r the work o f Rober t Mapplethorp e an d Andre s Serrano, but Davila' s projec t als o brings t o min d a number o f contradic tions abou t th e receptio n an d interpretatio n o f moder n Lati n America n culture. Can we reduce the artist's rendition to a simple example of postmoder n camp? A playful confusio n o f images that borders on the absurd? Possibl y so, but Davila' s portrait als o offers othe r readings , reminding u s how th e gendered body shapes both the political forum and the theater of commerce . 21 9 14 220 * Francine Masiello and trade. Davila's work calls specific attention to the role that gender and sexuality pla y i n definin g Lati n America n subjects ; i t interrogate s fixe d notions o f identit y passe d o n fro m foundin g fathers . Indeed , a s Chilea n critic Raque l Ole a ha s shown, 1 Davila' s paintin g remind s u s tha t th e national projec t depend s o n a masculine , heterosexua l bod y t o organiz e memory and history. It also suggests that others have the right to construct an image of the national hero and to reverse the common aesthetic and symbolic legacies that have excluded considerations of gender. In the same vein, Davila shows us that patriotism is also a commercial construct, based on the wholesale packaging and trade of poses, gestures, styles, and dress. In fact , this portrait forms part of a large installation piece entitled Utopia (1988), in which Davila tests concepts of gender and nation on a canvas of images, all assembled from religious relics, tourist postcards, and mass-culture objects, and underscoring the ready-made tokens of exchange from which nationa l symbols are born. The work thus evokes the excesses of commodity trad e in genera l whil e mockin g th e state-endorse d traffi c i n nostalgi a an d invented tradition. I begin with this example in order to make the case that gender in Latin America is often represente d a s a visual spectacle on the national political stage. Moreover, the accoutrements o f gender—cosmetics , dress, and pose —are treated a s commodities t o be bought an d sol d in the image-makin g service o f th e nation . I n effect , fro m th e tim e o f th e nineteenth-centur y independence wars through the recent transition to democracy, patterns of dress an d sexualit y hav e forme d par t an d parce l o f th e Lati n America n political imagination. At times, gendered representations bestowed validity upon nationa l projects—fo r example , image s o f th e warrio r her o o r th e "republican mother" were used to dignify the newly independent countrie s following their freedom from Spain. Toward the century's close, the marketing of gender images and dress served the liberal state as a vehicle to mod ernize culture. Dress, when monitored unde r the aegis of fashion, create d the illusio n o f choic e an d freedo m withi n clearl y marke d boundarie s o...

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