Mónica Castillo aims to understand material through her image, rather than attempting to mold a perfect representation of herself. Castillo’s Modelo para autorretrato III y representación [Model for Self-Portrait III and Representation], one of her many self-portraits, undermines the tradition of portraiture in painting through its use of fiber and crochet, unraveling the hierarchy that positioned painting as art and textile as craft. Using material to transmit meaning about the body and the world that surrounds us, she engages viewers in seeing the face as mold in order to transcend the image. Castillo places the image as secondary and the materiality, its associations and meanings, forefront in her work.