Andrea Fraser and her 92-year-old mother, Carmen de Monteflores, are showing work side by side in the 2024 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. This is Fraser's third time in the biennial, but de Monteflores's first museum exhibition after abandoning her art career in 1970 due to repeated rejections. Fraser presents five wax sculptures of toddlers, while de Monteflores shows exuberant, monumental shaped canvases of heads and bodies from the 1960s. The mother-daughter duo's participation came about after Fraser sent images of her mother's stored paintings to biennial co-curator Marcela Guerrero, leading to a joint invitation.
This story matters because it highlights the systemic exclusion of women artists, particularly those who stopped making art after facing rejection, and the belated recognition they can receive decades later. Fraser, a conceptual artist known for critiquing the art world's exclusionary practices, becomes an advocate for her mother's work, creating a poignant intergenerational dialogue. The biennial's inclusion of de Monteflores reflects a broader trend of rediscovering overlooked older women artists, while Fraser's shift from institutional critique to personal, tender sculptures adds emotional depth to the exhibition.