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Nude, but partially covered by a hyperrealistic replica of a female torso, Anto Lopéz Espinosa (1993) appears on four different screens, gazing towards the viewer. At first seemingly still, like a living painting, until voices are heard and Lopéz Espinosa appears to speak in fourfold. Taking turns and at times speaking in unison, they deliver fragments of a single text, as if the artist were a collective: multi-voiced and, at the same time, one. This notion of plurality and unity lies at the heart of what the artist examines in this work at Prospects.
Working as a performance artist, Lopéz Espinosa draws on characteristic elements of drag art, such as lip-syncing and music, alongside personal narratives that centre on familial love and connection. In Within This Mother, Another Mouth (2025), they explore notions of queer motherhood through a poetic inquiry in which conflict, melancholy and reconciliation alternate. The nude torso – a wearable element that functions as a form of armour – belongs to their own mother. The scar recalls their birth, while the forest in which the scene was filmed is the ancestral birthplace of their family. Lopéz Espinosa states: ‘the presence of my mother speaks of an embodied heritage, of the maternal as something that can be reimagined and re-inhabited.’ At the same time, the artist seeks to move beyond the autobiographical. By creating a subtle tension between distance and intimacy, and between looking and being looked at, Lopéz Espinosa pursues both confrontation and closeness with the audience.
Written by Esther Darley