A mermaid necklace
Oporto-Carcaixent, 2007-2010
Boat rope, silk, brass, nylon, and ink450 x 350 x 20 cm
Installation in Centro del Carmen, Valencia.
The sculpture-object "Collar de Sirena" (Mermaid Necklace) is based on the discovery of a ship's rope and a group of nets buried under the sand at the mouth of the Douro River in Porto, in 2007. These materials were taken to the artist's workshop on the other side of the Peninsula and a year later, during the summer of 2009, they were reused in the making of this work.
Text on the silk bandage.
"A trap for a mermaid".
After a sharp blow, I fell off the rock and the sea engulfed me. The water was spinning so hard that I couldn't see any weightless fish. Someone had prepared a rope to drown me at the bottom of the sea. It was pitch black. I felt the gauze of my turquoise dress tangle around my neck and soon I was caught in a trap.
I was swallowing sadness for several months and my tears blurred with the vastness of the seawater. I screamed loudly, but my voice could not be heard. I didn't know when it was day and when it was night, I no longer remembered what it was like to be a bird.
She would come from time to time and bring me bits of fish and seaweed. One day, searching in the dark, I found a mother-of-pearl shell. It was so beautiful to the touch that I fell asleep caressing it and thinking I had forgotten the memory of the colors, it fell to the ground and broke.
"A trap for a mermaid".
After a sharp blow, I fell off the rock and the sea engulfed me. The water was spinning so hard that I couldn't see any weightless fish. Someone had prepared a rope to drown me at the bottom of the sea. It was pitch black. I felt the gauze of my turquoise dress tangle around my neck and soon I was caught in a trap.
I was swallowing sadness for several months and my tears blurred with the vastness of the seawater. I screamed loudly, but my voice could not be heard. I didn't know when it was day and when it was night, I no longer remembered what it was like to be a bird.
She would come from time to time and bring me bits of fish and seaweed. One day, searching in the dark, I found a mother-of-pearl shell. It was so beautiful to the touch that I fell asleep caressing it and thinking I had forgotten the memory of the colors, it fell to the ground and broke.
With the sharp outline I tried to cut the string and little by little it frayed. One day, without warning, the loop broke and I quickly surfaced and left my ballast of nets behind. The sun blinded me as soon as I saw it, but I could see the serene horizon. In the distance, I could hear the chirping of bells. I drifted for a while, my boat was made of paper.
In the distance, I saw a delta full of pink flamingos. I was happy to see dry land. Soon I reached the river, the water was warmer. On the river bank there was a honeycomb of bees, with their honey I made myself some shoes.
I walked through the forest, among the leaves, looking for the mountains, and on the way I found him. He was carving the ice with his precious hands, building a piano with icy keys.
He began to play. I looked at my left side, I felt it throbbing and the warmth reactivated the blood in my feet, the honey melted with his kiss of music and since then I dreamt every night of him composing a solo for a mermaid.
In the distance, I saw a delta full of pink flamingos. I was happy to see dry land. Soon I reached the river, the water was warmer. On the river bank there was a honeycomb of bees, with their honey I made myself some shoes.
I walked through the forest, among the leaves, looking for the mountains, and on the way I found him. He was carving the ice with his precious hands, building a piano with icy keys.
He began to play. I looked at my left side, I felt it throbbing and the warmth reactivated the blood in my feet, the honey melted with his kiss of music and since then I dreamt every night of him composing a solo for a mermaid.
