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(Re)Producing Galician Femininities: Women’s Creative Praxis in 21st-Century Galicia
  • ISSN: 1364-971X
  • E-ISSN: 1758-9150

Abstract

(‘Anatomy of a mermaid’) (2018) is a documentary theatre play in which the Galician actor Iria Pinheiro shares the experiences of obstetric violence she went through during and after labour. I filmed Pinheiro’s creative process when putting the play together. As I was filming, I found presented a reality that is still debated in Spain, disrupting the performative image of the pregnant woman that has been perpetuated in cultural production within western patriarchal society. In this article, I address how I use video essay as a research form to analyse the subversive nature of the play, looking at how Pinheiro uses parody as a device to disrupt, and how she confronts us with the image of the pregnant woman typically portrayed in films. Furthermore, what started as an investigation into the actor’s creative process turned into a personal exploration to understand more about the pregnant woman who infiltrates the Galician and Spanish imaginary. By analysing to what extent the image we get from films has been framed by the depictions of the pregnant Virgin Mary and how subversive portrayals in films are sometimes made invisible, I intend to challenge how we present the pregnant woman on screen.

Resumo

(2018) é unha obra de teatro documental na que a actriz Iria Pinheiro comparte as súas experiencias de violencia obstétrica polas que pasou durante e despois do parto. Filmei o proceso creativo de Pinheiro cando creaba a obra, e a medida que gravaba deime conta de que presenta unha realidade que aínda é cuestionada en España, subvertendo así a imaxe performativa da muller embarazada que ten sido perpetuada dentro da produción cultural da sociedade occidental. Neste artigo exploro como a través do vídeo ensaio como ferramenta de análise, investigo acerca da natureza subversiva da obra, atendendo a como Pinheiro usa a parodia como un medio para alterar o establecido, e como nos confronta coa imaxe da muller embarazada que tipicamente se presenta nas películas. Ademais, o que empezou como unha investigación sobre o proceso creativo da actriz, tornou nunha exploración persoal para entender mellor acerca da muller embarazada que impregna o imaxinario galego e español. Analizando ata que punto a imaxe que temos das películas ven marcada polas representacións da Virxe María e como os retratos subversivos nas películas son feitos invisibles, pretendo cuestionar como presentamos a muller embarazada na pantalla.

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2023-01-24
2024-04-20
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Shifting views on the pregnant body: Filming the play Anatomía dunha serea
International Journal of Iberian Studies 35, 293 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1386/ijis_00083_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ijis_00083_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ijis_00083_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): documentary theatre; labour; muller embarazada; obstetric violence; parto; pregnant woman; teatro documental; video essay; violencia obstrética; Virgin Mary; Virxe María; vídeo ensaio

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