Art Speaks Louder Series: Haenyeo and Palenqueras Collections – An Exhibition by Blanesth

17.02.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York

February 2023, New York – To mark the Commission on Status of Women (CSW67, March 6 – 17) and UN Water Conference (March 22-24) the EU Delegation to the UN is featuring an exhibit by Blanesth (Blanca Esther Gomez) on the 31^st Floor.

Untitled painting by Blanca Esther Gomez

Untitled – acrylic on canvas (150cm x 250cm)

This year, the 67th Commission on the Status of Women will focus on the theme of “innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”, and will review the theme from five years ago, which explored the “challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.

These two themes speak to many of the challenges facing women and girls in rural communities. Such communities are often rich with tradition, but can be the last to benefit from major advances in infrastructure and technology, like internet access. There are further hurdles for women and girls, who are usually less likely to benefit from digital revolutions and access to technology than men and boys – a.k.a. “the gender digital divide”. The European Union will work to ensure the achievement of gender equality, and will approach CSW67 with the highest level of ambition.

Blanesth’s exhibition consists of two collections: Korean Haenyeo and the Colombian Palenqueras. Both groups of woman, the Korean Haenyeo and the Colombian Palenqueras, are of historical importance in their respective regions. The Haenyeo and the village Palenque have been added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Yet some of both female groups are living nowadays in economic and social circumstances that do not adequately mirror the historical importance they represent.

Blanesth’s work explores the fragility of the human condition through social and psychological contexts of these women (https://blanesth.com/my-work/).

Haenyeo Collection (2017)

Haenyeo literally means women of the sea (Hae = Sea, Nyeo = Women), who were first mentioned in 1629 on the volcanic island Jeju in the Korean Strait. It is only women who carry on the centuries of tradition in the collection of seaweed, abalone and other marine products. Without using any supplementary breathing equipment, they dive up to 20 meters deep, and are able to hold their breath for up to two minutes. For these female divers, diving has been their whole life. Driven by the need for subsistence, they started diving at the age of 11 years, or even younger. Their work is a combination of athletic challenge and the monitoring and preservation of the marine ecosystem. Yet, their knowledge and wisdom based on centuries of practice and passed down to daughters from generation to generation is about to be lost. Nowadays, the average age of the Haenyeo divers is 70 years, and there are no generational replacements.

Haenyeo Collection paintings location

The Main Hallway

Untitled - acrylic on canvas (150cm x 250cm)

Salida del agua - acrylic on canvas (150cm x 250cm)

Untitled (3) - acrylic on canvas (120cmX120cm)

Palenqueras Collection (2019)

Palenque de San Basilio is located in the Northern part of Colombia, close to the region’s capital of Cartagena on the Atlantic coast. Escaped slaves founded the village as a refuge in the seventeenth century. Especially the woman – Palenqueras – who are the object of this project, carry on the social, religious, musical and oral traditions of their African roots. Walking through the idyllic old town of Cartagena with its houses from colonial past and its colourful balconies, they cannot be overlooked: Afro-Colombian woman in colourful dresses, walking with metal bowls full of exotic fruits on their heads dressed with turbans. Those women are a popular photographic subject motif for tourists, whose tips are the Palenqueras’ main source of income.

What we see in Cartagena is a staged idyll. The area where some of these women and their families live is the swamp landscape with mangrove forests, in quite poor conditions. We see the confrontation of the extremely valuable human heritage under the impact of tourism and with repercussions on cultural heritage. In the case of the Palenqueras, what is most admirable is how these women have preserved their authentic beauty and dignity.