Construction of a circle of protection for Mercedes’ hands, for Gracielita’s dreams

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This project was carried out in the Originario residence, Cura Malal, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2018, under the coordination of Mercedes Resch, Nilda Rosemberg and Verónica Suanno.

The residency took place in La Tranca, which is an art space, but also the home of Mercedes Resch, which allowed me to meet the reality of this artist in a small town in the south of the province. She shared with me the process of some of her works and her artist studio, and I conducted three interviews with her. So I was able to know that Mercedes raised the walls of the space where we were in residence with her own hands, she told me about her relationship with her family, that when she was little they called her Gracielita, and little by little I was able to see how her artistic project she found the poeticization, conservation and cultural activation of his people. Simultaneously, during the days of my stay, I met other inhabitants, along with the love and respect they felt for Mercedes.

On the last day of residence, when the doors of the space were opened to share with the village people, I carried out a participatory performance with the purpose of, together with those present, building a cura malal: a stone corral, a poetic circle that protects Mercedes, to the dreams that the girl Gracielita once had, and to her art space, in the same way that she protects her people and the inhabitants.

For this, I used bricks in reference to everything built by Mercedes with their own hands. The bricks were transferred on a handrail assembled by those present, with which we raised the circle in a space of her house where it could remain and was visible to the people. In this way, a daily action became a collective and protective ritual.

Mercedes’ hands,
Gracielita’s hands,
build dreams
that protect
to her people.

 

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PLACE

Originario residence, Cura Malal, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

DATE

February 2018

DATE

Laura Mozzi