Wynnie Mynerva Mendoza Ortiz

Resurgimiento

Wynnie Mynerva places their body at the center of their practice from an intimate perspective and healing dimension. Their paintings are thresholds where body parts proliferate beyond names and labels, dissolving and intermingling gender marks, organs, and prostheses. Resurgence was produced in the aftermath of their fifth solo show Closing to Open (Galería Ginsberg, Lima, 2021), in which Mynerva addressed their experience of going through a vaginal surgical procedure to help them feel more aligned with their gender identity. 

The large, brightly colored painting depicts two self-representations of Mynerva. As if in an act of mourning, they hold in their hands the body that they were before and they left behind. From the bottom, black wings pierce their former body, which is given as an offering. For the artist, this painting is an homage to the multitude of sexual identities and gender expressions. The title Resurgence evokes a moment of reinvention, of rising again into life in a world where non-binary bodies are still pathologized and criminalized.