“Liza Kirwin: How do you think Catholicism formed your identity?
Claudia DeMonte: Oh, I think it did a lot…tons of my stuff comes about being Catholic and the ritual around being Catholic and the colors of the shrines and the lavishness of benedictions ….”
(Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Oral History Interview with Claudia DeMonte, 1991)
In 2023, the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at the Queens College, City University of New York received a collection of Claudia DeMonte’s artwork, such as objects connected to her Female Fetishes theme. Ornamented in silver pewter charms, which were made in Thailand, DeMonte molded the wooden object into a cup, a jewelry box, a wine bottle, a blender, and other everyday objects associated with women.
Influenced by her Italian Catholic upbringing, DeMonte used the traditional iconography of milagros, or miracles, which is found in Catholic devotional art in Western Europe and Latin America. Traditionally, the charms depict body parts, such as eyes, a head, a heart, a liver, etc., animals, and saints. Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology writes about the use of the milagro in Mexican tradition, stating, “The form of a milagro is connected to the problem it aims to solve. However, there is no universal interpretation. They may take the shape of a person or body part to focus healing on a specific area.” It depends on the individual to embed meaning into the charm.
DeMonte does not use the religious charms found in milagro Catholic iconography, instead she formed miniature representations of umbrellas, pots, suitcases, telephones, lamp shades, televisions, and other modern objects that people have interacted with in their day to day. She even makes homage to her birthplace, Astoria, Queens, with the Astoria flag and the unisphere in Flushing Meadows.
The charms are personalized to her worldview and to her lived experience as a woman. Incorporating a feminist message is central to DeMonte’s work. In an oral history interview with Liza Kirwin in 2001, DeMonte highlights the use of everyday objects in her creative expression, stating,
“I also made things particularly that art wasn’t made about, that stuff at home—making the bed, changing the towels, vacuuming. I love that, that’s what we spend most of our time doing. I have a piece now of me, a life-size cutout, washing the dishes, drying the dishes. That’s what we do more than we do anything else…You’re not supposed to make art about it…to me there are all kinds of other connections and the feminist one is a big one.”
Female Fetish as a title implies an object intertwined with reverence and magical properties. DeMonte’s pewter milagros elevates the experience of everyday living for women. She further nails in the message by stamping the charms on wooden basic home goods and common food that can be found in a kitchen, a bedroom, and other locations within the domestic space. It seems that DeMonte holds reverence for these objects because of their commonness and their connection to the home—a place that, historically, has been marked as a ‘feminine’ world.
Post written by Elena Butuzova
If you are interested in learning more about the Female Fetish artworks by Claudia DeMonte, please check out the Godwin-Ternbach Museums catalog.
References:
Claudia DeMonte – Woman Made Gallery. womanmade.org/artwork/claudia-demonte.
“Conversations With Claudia DeMonte.” VoyageMIA, 16 Mar. 2023, voyagemia.com/interview/conversations-with-claudia-demonte.
Cromwell, Sara. “Mexican Milagros – Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology.” Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology, 7 Oct. 2024, lammuseum.wfu.edu/2024/10/mexican-milagros.
Fascinating Forms of Devotion: Milagros and Other Ex-Votos. 25 Oct. 2021, udayton.edu/blogs/marianlibrary/2021-10-25-fascinating-forms-of-devotion.php.
Oral History Interview With Claudia DeMonte, 1991 February 13- April 24 | Smithsonian Institution. www.si.edu/object/oral-history-interview-claudia-demonte-1991-february-13-april-24%3AAAADCD_oh_214555.
Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property. Milagro Cross: Symbolism and Meaning. www.nmhistoricsites.org/assets/files/taylor/MilagroCrossLessonPlan_Final3.pdf.