This part of the exposition stems from the final sequence of the documentary, Trenza. Braiding my own hair is linked to creating something of an ornamental nature which could be seen as aiming essentially to seduce, and can thus be associated with the male bowerbird’s aesthetic task as it prepares its nest for courtship.
The symbol the movement of braiding gives rise to is materialised alongside graphic representations of square brackets and sports rackets in different media, particularly embroidery. This section shows photographs and sketches of this material, and images of a large piece of embroidery made in the La Ribera Market in Bilbao in 2018 (Home style).
This fourth section could lead to a fifth, sixth, or seventh one, were work on this exposition to continue over time.
The pleasure of the search that leads from the desire to bond and the encounters and digressions within the process of making art come together in a manner of working that could give rise to more work. What happens next leads to new knowledge and praxis. Knowledge is produced when the subject is marked by the object. And this singular occurrence is able to take place because of the flexibility of an open- ended process which allows for digression, which favours the uncertainty as well as the rituality that activates the immanent capacity of the everyday object through repetition and routine. This process builds up a speculative form of praxis as a way of being in and thinking about the world.
SAD AND HAPPY ICONS
The symbolic, axial symmetry of the ear of wheat around its axis, and the way it alternates in its arrangement, show that all polarity has a centre, whose extension generates a visible or invisible central axis indicating a desire to move towards a point of origin. The ear has a limp, drooping, weak appearance. But its flexibility allows it to bear the wind and rise again. Its vulnerability is its structure, resistance and mettle.*
The symbol of the braid brings together form, flexibility, vulnerability, and the power of seduction. Embroidering it sets up an ornamental association. While the bowerbirds’ desire to bond leads them to adorn their space, the aesthetic element here adorns the body.
The X’s in cross-stitch are used to create a system of relationships based on the rituality defined in the previous sections of this exposition. On the face of it, banal experiences such as braiding hair are interwoven in the representation of particular forms already seen in Un Atletismo Afectivo and Trenza. Here, however, the originally feminine as a way of seeing the world is added to the domestic and partial elements.
*Translator’s note: Trenza espiga (French braid) in Spanish could be literally translated as “Ear of wheat braid”.
HOME STYLE
Home style transforms the formal and conceptual relationship between architectural and ornamental elements of the Ribera Market in Bilbao, by playing with the relationship between materiality and the normal uses of certain elements associated with its stained-glass windows.
The following materials are used for this: a piece of vinyl with images of flowers which belonged to a branch stuck to the wall, and cross-stitch embroidery in wool on a wire mesh background.
Wire mesh, which is generally used to reinforce tiles, walls, or paving, is used for the large embroidered piece to turn what is decorative into structure and figure. Here, the market wall functions as a background to the ornament, giving a different conceptual spin on the function and relevance of architectural and decorative elements. Home style attempts to recuperate the value of the ornament as language and dynamic opening up of form.
