In one of the latest posts dedicated to Sardinia we mentioned the pleated and embroidered skirts part of the traditional costume of the island. These skirts are ample and heavy and they are usually supported by petticoats.
Traditional costumes often feature layered skirts, at times to create contrasts of colours, in other cases to give more support to the outfit or to give it a sculpted silhouette. Layered skirts can be found also in the traditional dress of Bolivian cholas or cholitas.
Stereotyped and discriminated in the past, not admitted in restaurants, taxis and some public buses, nor allowed to walk freely in La Paz's central square, Plaza Murillo, home to the presidential palace, these indigenous Aymara and Quechua women could be easily recognised by their colourful attire, heavy multi-layered gathered pollera (skirt) in bright and bold colours worn high up to highlight the bum and create a rounded backside, long manta (shawl), flat shoes and a bowler hat precariously perched on their heads.
The skirts are actually adpated from the European dress that was forced upon the local indigenous people and the cholitas turned it into a rebellious signature of their uniform.
In more recent years the cholitas, and in particular the wrestling cholitas, turned into an inspiration for fashion designers (Stella Jean's S/S 18 collection combined for example the cholitas traditional costume with Western tailoring and sportswear), filmmakers and photographers.
Bolivia’s cholitas luchadoras began wrestling in the early 2000s in El Alto, on the edge of La Paz. Mexican-style lucha libre wrestling is for them a way to fight back oppression, domestic violence and marginalisation and their fights on the ring are usually metaphors for the struggles in their lives.
A while back, photographer Todd Antony, originally from New Zealand but based in London, a while back did a series dedicated to the the cholitas escaladoras (who climb the Bolivian mountains in their dress) and to the fighting cholitas (see images 3, 4, 5 and 6 in this post).
In some of the images portraying the fights, the women seem suspended in mid-flight, their skirts flying around them create a fantastic visual effect and contribute to give the images a dreamy and surreal touch.
Russian photographer Anna Jermolaewa also did a series last year about cholita wrestling (last picture in this post): her images portray the women as they fight, but in this case the photographer opted for black and white tones. The emphasis remains on the clothes and in particular on their skirts, though, with the lace petticoats and flat feminine shoes that contrast with the act of fighting and the wrestling poses.
Jermolaewa's series about the cholitas wrestling will be part of the Established Contemporary section at the twenty-fifth edition of Miart, the international modern and contemporary art fair in Milan (from 17th to 19th September 2021) entitled "Dismantling the silence".
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