As part of the Lo Safareig series at Lo Pati Centre of Art in Amposta, Exegesi brought together artists presenting works currently on show in the Sense Comissariat exhibition, on until the end of May.
I had the opportunity to create a performative presentation based on Dual – a work made in 2006 whilst living and working in Cyprus. Dual (pictured below) is a diptych of canvases constructed from fake leather, stuffing and cactus spikes.
The performance became a conversation between my 29-year-old self in 2006 and my 49-year-old self now. Moving between English and Spanish, it explored dualities of material, posture, body language, openings and closures, sensuality and defence, spikes and softness.
To embody the cactus, I grew my hair and nails. Dressed in black to mirror the leather, barefoot to ground myself, the body became both archive and material — protective, performative and exposed at the same time.
The full transcript of the performance is can be found below, with original Spanish translated into English.
Duality
It’s 2006.
I am twenty-nine.
I believe self-surveillance
is a profession.
I iron myself flat.
New.
Tight.
Polite posture.
I edit my hunger.
I rehearse ease.
Fake.
Tense.
Soft surface.
Manufactured skin.
Disciplined.
I call it confidence.
I call it choice.
Material logic.
Who are you?
It’s 2026.
I am forty-nine.
I don’t want to be liked.
I open up.
I close myself off.
I prick myself.
I protect myself.
I want space.
I want time.
I want my body without permission.
I don’t need to enter.
I’m already inside.
And I am you.
My body is a project.
Fix it.
Smooth it.
Tone it.
Reduce.
Behave.
Hold and contain.
Be grateful.
Hide it.
Offer it.
Withhold, controlled.
Sell it politely.
Smile.
Cross legs.
Be acceptable.
Be less.
Tuck, suck, pleasure and pain.
I apologise.
Again.
Everything is performance.
My body is not a project.
It is an archive.
It is war.
It is resistance.
It is pleasure.
It is pain.
It is exhaustion.
It is memory.
It makes no apologies.
Everything is performance.
This conversation.
This jacket.
This silence.
This flirtation.
Everything is performance.
Sensibility.
Limitations.
Prescriptions.
Consumption.
Everything is performance.
This distance.
These nails.
This gesture.
This posture.
Everything is performance.
The light.
The darkness.
Life.
Death.
Everything is performance.
Smooth.
Pretty.
Feminine.
Young.
Wanted.
Desirable.
Good girl.
Domesticated.
Easy.
Everything is performance.
Tough.
Uncomfortable.
Visible.
Wild.
Masculine.
Bad woman.
Free.
Too much.
Untamed.
Everything is performance.
Fuck that.
The body swells.
The body changes.
The body leaks.
The body bleeds.
The body hungers.
The body demands.
The body ages.
The body resists.
The body remembers.
The body doesn’t lie.
Duality…
…does not exist.