Marica Formal: 1era Edición
Manifesto:
Marica Formal is an ongoing art installation that takes the form of a socks brand for queer activism in Peru and South America. Textually, Marica Formal, in Spanish means “Formal Faggot”. Currently, the Peruvian cis-straight male population uses the terms and many other informal variants as a colloquial insult to refer to other straight cis-men as lacking courage. Escardó has identified this practice as a form of systematic homophobia in the country and made the installation to reclaim the words; just as the word Queer was reclaimed in the UK during the 80s. The star product of the brand is the classic pair of long white sports socks branded with the logo at the top of the elastic.
In the short term, Escardó aims to choreograph the audience into reclaiming the words by wearing the socks and, as a consequence, starting conversations, building a presence for the queer community and creating pride around them. Additionally, 15% of the money made from the sale of socks is directed Casa Trans Lima Este, a trans charity dedicated to giving shelter to trans people. Lastly, the socks are made with 100% Peruvian Pima Cotton, supporting and representing the quality of his national products.
In the long term, Escardó also envisions the project to become a platform that gives access, creates, archives and enables queer culture. Following this idea, for the first edition, he’s chosen three personal artist icons to give homage with a series of prints, allowing them to be accessible to queer people who may also find them inspiring. They are: Tom of Finland, Lee Lozano and Giuseppe Campuzano.
Video piece presented at 270 degrees wall installation on loop at Casa Bulbo (2024)
15% of the money made from selling the socks is donated to Casa Trans Lima Este, a trans charity dedicated to give shelter to trans people who were not accepted by their biological families. The rest of the income is only re-invested in the project itself.
“On the long run, I want Marica Formal to become a platform that gives access to queer culture in places where queer culture does not seem so accesible.”
For this reason, Escardo has chosen three artist icons to give homage and share the spotlight. According to him, each of these featured artists taught him something that helped build his own queer moral structure. The artists are: Lee Lozano, Tom of Finland and Giuseppe Campuzano. For more information on their work please visit: https://www.maricaformal.co.uk/prints
Each of the prints is made using silkscreen printing on 100 grams Don Bosco handmade paper, measuring 55 x 38 cm and they are an edition of 20. All are hand-signed by the artist, Rafael Escardó, on the front of the paper. They were produced in the Made In Perú print workshop in colaboration with master Peruvian printmaker Alfredo Márquez.
