Berenice Olmedo

Berenice Olmedo (born 1987) is a sculptor and performance artist whose work addresses the body, illness and care, as well as the biopolitics of disability and prothetic devices.^[1][2][3]

Olmedo was born in Oaxaca, Mexico.^[1] She was educated at the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico.^[4] She is based in Mexico City.^[5]

Work

Olmedo's sculptures are constructed from materials and devices from the medical field, including scoliosis corsets and prosthetic appendages.^[6][7] A review in Art Papers magazine states that her work "calls into question how ableist and anthropocentric frameworks operate across the sociopolitical spectrum."^[8][9] Writing in Flash Art magazine, Jane Ursula Harris reflects on Olmeda's work as a disruption of "ableist standards of normativity" that allows viewers to "recognize the wellness of diverse bodies."^[10]

In her 2012–2015 project Canine Tomatocommerce or The Political-Ethical Dilemma of Merchandise, Olmeda gathered the carcasses of stray dogs killed by vehicles on the streets near Puebla. She created various products from the corpses to display as art; this included soap made from the dog fat; and boots, jackets, bags, and fur products from the dog skin. She also sold these items at a flea market in Puebla. The carcasses themselves were never directly displayed.^[11]

Olmedo has exhibited her work in the 36th São Paulo Art Biennial,^[12] the Berkeley Museum and Film Archive,^[13] Museum Trondheim,^[7] ICA Boston,^[12] the Kunsthalle Basel,^[14] the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt.^[12]

Collections

Her work was acquired for the Boros Collection in Berlin in 2022.^[15]