Could Be (An Arrow) explores the way in which a series of women artists have sought to interrogate and, in some cases, subvert the traditional canons of image production in art. The works included deploy different conceptual and formal strategies which challenge prescribed ideas of femininity, inverting the gaze traditionally laid on women in order to question the spectator.

The exhibition takes as a departure point the optical unconscious, a term coined by philosopher Walter Benjamin to describe the expanded perceptual ability introduced by photographic and cinema cameras. The images they capture have radically changed our perception of reality by revealing that which before was impossible to consciously see. As a result, visual culture itself has been transformed. This exhibition gathers works in diverse media which multiply the definition of what is, or could be considered, an image.

This reading of La Colección Jumex is organized as a series of six constellations. The trajectory starts with an analysis of human perception, the relation we have with the machines that visually reproduce the world, the construction of space and how its traditional connotations can be transgressed. Other sections examine the political, historical and affective dimensions of a given context, both at the level of the landscape and of public and private spaces. This interrogation runs through the fields of affects and the body. Throughout the show, an expanded notion of portraiture is put forward, whereby images can act as mirrors – allowing us to see and subvert notions of identity produced by a reflection.

In addition to the works from La Colección Jumex, other pieces are included to expand the plurality of voices, working as hinges within the general narrative of this exhibition.

Artists: Anna Boghiguian, Pauline Boudry y Renate Lorenz, Carol Bove, Mariana Castillo Deball, Mónica Castillo, Anne Collier, Mary Corse, Minerva Cuevas, Moyra Davey, Ale de la Puente, Tacita Dean, Rineke Dijkstra, Ceal Floyer, Ana Gallardo, Andrea Geyer, Silvia Gruner, Candida Höfer, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Marine Hugonnier, Luisa Lambri, Adriana Lara, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Sharon Lockhart, Sarah Lucas, Tala Madani, Teresa Margolles, Ana Mendieta, Annette Messager, Catherine Opie, Tania Pérez Córdova, Amalia Pica, R.H. Quaytman, Pipilotti Rist, Daniela Rosell, Kiki Smith, Melanie Smith, Valeska Soares, Rosemarie Trockel, Tatiana Trouvé, Lake Verea, Hannah Wilke, Cathy Wilkes and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa.