Blanka Amezkua took part since age five in embroidery circles in Mexico, an exclusively women's activity that allowed family members and neighbors to spend long hours in conversation.

Trained as a painter, she has for the past eight years made colorful pop-infused embroideries that interrogate the portrayal of women in Mexican adult comic books.

These illustrations are drawn onto cloth and stitched along with accompanying text of her devising. The result is a depiction of heroines who have been liberated from the stifling territory of pulp fiction into a world where a women's sexuality is fully eroticized on her own terms.  As pop art often revealed the most closely held stereotypes about romance and the vulnerability of women, so too Blanka's refashioned pop images question how power relations have kept a woman from finding her sexual identity based on the uniqueness of her own desires.

Sarah Stanley, KBP Gallery


Greñudita Embroidery Karnalitas Embroidery Bailando Embroidery Rebel Rebel Embroidery What In the World Embroidery
Greñudita
(Hairy one)
Embroidery on fabric
36 x 36 in.
2005
Karnalitas(Sisters)
Embroidery on fabric
and crochet
30 x 29 in.
2005
Bailando(Dancing)
Embroidery on fabric
and crochet
34 x 26 in.
2005
Rebel Rebel
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
What In The World
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
La Lutxona Embroidery Wanda Embroidery Zelina Embroidery Kinetiko Embroidery Iko Embroidery
La Lutxona
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
Wanda
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
Zelina
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
Kinetiko
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
Iko
Embroidery on fabric and crochet
30 x 31 in.
2007
Libertad Embroidery Pau Embroidery Dolores Embroidery It Makes No Difference Now Embroidery Car Hoppin' Mama Embroidery
Libertad
Embroidery on fabric
and crochet
32 x 27.5 in.
2008
Pau
Embroidery on fabric
and crochet
27 x 34 in.
2008
Dolores
(Lola)
Embroidery on fabric
and crochet
32 x 24.5 in.
2008
It Makes No
Difference Now
Embroidery on fabric, felt
and cotton trim
22 x 33.5 in.
2008
Car Hoppin'
Mama
Embroidery on fabric, felt
and cotton trim
19 x 31.5 in.
2008
Ain't No Wheels On This Ship Embroidery
Ain't No Wheels
On This Ship
Embroidery on fabric, felt
and tassels
34 x 27 in.
2008