Abstract/Summary

The theme of self-transformation as part of a renewal of society is the essence of all 20th century revolutions, embodied in the figure on the ‘New Man’ that will bring about the new revolutionary society of the future. This concept was a crucial part of the ideology of the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional). This paper concentrates on the emergence of the New Woman emerged in revolutionary Nicaragua visual arts, in murals executed across the country contributing to create the new revolutionary landscape. One image in particular, a photograph taken by Nicaraguan photographer Orlando Valenzuela of a Sandinista female combatant titled “Miliciana de Waswalito” or “Armed mother and Child” became worldwide known. This image became an international icon of the New Woman of the revolution and would appear as a recurrent motive and almost exclusively in the murals commissioned by AMNLAE (Asociación de Mujeres Nicaragüenses “Luisa Amanda Espinoza”) while in the most important murals commissioned by the government the depiction of the New Woman embodied the archetypes of motherhood and femininity.