In Liberty Roses, Débora Delmar (Mexico City, 1986, Lives and works in London, UK) constructs a symbolic bridge between Mexico City and London, her place of birth and her place of residence. Connecting two cities to discuss colonialism and its effects on the past, present, and future, as well as the tension between artisanal and industrial image reproduction, the real estate bubble, and speculation around housing, and the construction of national ideals through symbols and monuments. Delmar’s work gives rise to various associations as a result of the use, appropriation, and recreation of everyday images and objects.
In 1875, with a loan of £2,000, Arthur Lasenby Liberty acquired a building on Regent Street, London, where he metaphorically anchored the vessel of his dreams, taking customers on a journey of discovery of the world’s best artisanal techniques. Liberty, a renowned reference among luxury department stores, boasts its star brands like Tana Lawn Cotton, named after Ethiopia’s Lake Tana, where Liberty’s cotton buyer, William Hayes, discovered it. Back in the UK, these threads are crafted to a lustrous finish, printed with brilliant colors, forever changing the textile industry.
For the creation of the Liberty Roses series (2023-2024), a group of traditional Mexican sign painters reproduced the digital images used in Liberty’s fabric advertisements on metal panels. The sign painters hand-reproduced these images, initially painted by hand before being printed on luxurious fabrics. Reproductions of the Carline Rose line in red, blue, yellow, and pink, beloved by Liberty’s fabric enthusiasts
“What is the national flower of England?: The Tudor Rose”, a question the Mexican artist had to answer as part of the questionnaire to obtain English citizenship.
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The works on view were previosly shown in Frieze London (Focus in 2023 and as part of Liberty & Security, Débora Delmar ́s solo exhibition at the Jumex Museum curated by Marielsa Castro in 2024.
