NARRATOR: If you asked the artist Paulina Olowska who this is a painting of, she might give you many answers. This scene is her re-creation of the life of a once-famous Mexican poet.  

FEMALE CHARACTER VOICE: Soy un ser incomprendido que se ahoga en el volcan de pasiones, ideas, sensaciones, pensamientos y creaciones… 

NARRATOR: The poet’s name was Nahui Olin.  And what you’re hearing are her words.  

FEMALE CHARACTER VOICE: de sensaciones, de pensamientos, de creaciones que no pueden contenerse 

SFX: Sounds of a swanky social scene rise under the poetry and into the narration 

NARRATOR: Nahui Olin was a painter as well as a poet. An artist’s model, and a fashion icon.  By the 1920s, she was at the center of Mexico’s avant garde, rubbing shoulders with people like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. 

FEMALE CHARACTER VOICE: y que no se puede apagar;  

NARRATOR: The woman shown here isn’t Olin though; she’s a fashion model. Olowska borrowed her elegant image from somebody else’s photograph. This layering of forgotten images and references is a key part of Olowska’s work.     

FEMALE CHARACTER VOICE: y que no se puede apagar porque no he vencido con libertad la vida 

NARRATOR: And even though this is not technically a self-portrait, Olowska is present all through the painting. She makes ceramics, like the ones on the wall. She adores cats. She loves and often works with fashion. But back to Nahui Olin. 

FEMALE CHARACTER VOICE: estando destinada a ser vendida como antiguamente los esclavos, a un marido 

[Poetry translation: I am a misunderstood being who drowns in the volcano of passions, ideas, sensations, thoughts and creations // I am, therefore, destined to die of love, the only love for which my soul was created // I am a flame devoured by itself and nothing can extinguish it, because I have not lived life with freedom…]