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Programming

María Ezcurra

The other face of the mask

For over a year, Maria Ezcurra has been working on a series of masks that explore and reveal the conflict between our need for protection and the ability to convey our own identity, deeply affected by this recent pandemic.


For over a year, Maria Ezcurra has been working on a series of masks that explore and reveal the conflict between our need for protection and the ability to convey our own identity, deeply affected by this recent pandemic. Her project for DARE-DARE, entitled L'autre face du masque (The other side of the mask), aims to creatively explore the different experiences of a group of new immigrants in Montreal and the elements involved in the (in)visibilization of their/our identities. Inspired by Latin American traditions, protective garments, ceremonial costumes and fashion, these masks function as a form of individual expression, collective process and performative reflection.

Exploring the subjectivity of personal objects, María Ezcurra's work is configured under a kind of archaeology of displacement and memory. It allows her to question and reshape the physical, emotional and cultural boundaries of the body and its connection to place. Intertwining social and personal experiences, her sculptures, installations and performances intend to embody the multi-layered relationships that are involved in the construction of our identities. Textiles are a rich sculptural material and performative resource for the artist, with countless formal advantages and symbolic possibilities. Clothing is a central aspect of her creative process, becoming a site of exchange and a form for negotiating a sense of self in relation to the world, to others and to ourselves.


María Ezcurra

María Ezcurra is a Latina-Canadian artist and educator living in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She has participated in numerous exhibits worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, the Carl Freedman Gallery in the UK, the Nuit Blanche in Toronto, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and OBORO. Maria has been the recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and the National System of Art Creators in Mexico and in 2019 was awarded the Prix de la Diversité en Arts Visuels by the Conseil des arts de Montréal. She obtained a PhD at in Art Education at Concordia University and has taught art in several universities and organizations in Mexico and Canada over the past 20 years. She currently is a course lecturer at McGill and Concordia Universities. She has also developed and facilitated diverse public, participatory and community art projects in diverse contexts. Her areas of research are participatory art practices; dress and gendered embodiment; memory, identity, belonging and immigration.