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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Interview by Amy Fleming

A woman with a bull costume exuding masculine energy: Marisol Mendez’s best photograph

A person stands topless in a grassy woodland wearing a sculptural bull costume around their waist a photograph by Marisol Mendez, Bull 2019.
‘She uses her body as a tool’ … Marisol Mendez, Bull 2019. Photograph: Marisol Mendez

Paul McCartney famously says that he got the melody for Yesterday in a dream. I used to think that was artistic licence, but then it happened to me with this image. I had a dream about a half woman-half animal, standing alone in the middle of a field, with trees surrounding her.

I was working on a series of images, called Madre, about the depiction of womanhood. The media in Bolivia always present women in a traditionally feminine way. It is rare to see a woman who displays more masculine attributes and her not be immediately labelled as a lesbian – there is no nuance.

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