Primary Source
Malinche Sculpture
Annotation
A sculpted figure by an internationally-recognized Native American activist, writer and visual artist. The materials chosen by Jimmie Durham create an image of Malinche that seems emptied of life and perhaps not fully human. He stresses the darker underside of Malinche’s history. Her face is half human, half snakeskin. Scrawny legs, made of polyester batting, cannot support the figure. Malinche’s torso has no heart, no lungs, yet the bra complicates our understanding—why does Malinche wear this modern undergarment? There is nothing redemptive in Durham’s vision—Malinche may wear jewelry and feathers in her hair, but no beauty surfaces, no hope appears.
This source is a part of the Doña Marina, Cortés' Translator teaching module.