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This project could not have been realized without the participation of the French language students who took part in the workshops offered by María Ezcurra at DARE-DARE. We express our gratitude to the artist, the students, the educators, and the coordinators from CÉDA who were involved in this wonderful initiative.

Image credits: Images 1, 2, 3 and 4 feature the participation of Lorena Merino Martin in the workshops offered by María Ezcurra as part of her project at DARE-DARE. The image of the luchadorxs was created in collaboration with Matias Orozco Ezcurra, Julia von Hertwig Moratti Rosa, and Lev.

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 will 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.