Marcela Cantuária’s work is permeated by techniques, colors, and elements whose constructions evoke dreamlike environments that, simultaneously, refer to a raw and palpable reality. In Maternidade compulsória [Compulsory Maternity] (2016), the artist uses fragments of images collected from archives belonging to women she knows, all of whom experienced different processes of maternity—desired or not. Here we see the tensions between dream and material reality, marked by female figures that shed light on the reality of forced maternity (given the criminalization of abortion in Brazil) and obstetric violence (to which these mothers are often subjected). The criminalization of abortion forces women to resort to clandestine and unsafe methods of abortion as a solution for unwanted pregnancies, compromising their autonomy, freedom, and health. The consequences of these often-dangerous procedures are one of the major causes of female death in Brazil— an act of violence inflicted on women’s bodies and minds. In Compulsory Maternity, Cantuária evidences women’s socially imposed bonds in regard to reproductive and domestic labor, which involve caring for the home, children, and family. These bonds are represented by bars and chains as well as by the bodies of various female figures. Two pregnant women wear plastic coverings, suggesting suffocation, while another holds a ball to her belly, suggesting a possible pregnancy. The figure of the mother holding a child in her arms is juxtaposed with the image of dishes in a sink and clothes hanging on a clothesline, highlighting the unpaid domestic labor that women perform in society. The work thus points to the urgency of feminist struggles: women’s sexual, reproductive, corporeal, social, political, and economic freedoms.
— Beatriz Lemos, master in social history of culture, PUC‑RJ, 2019
