Un lugar secreto I, 2007
Site-specific installation for the Capilla de los Dolores, Grado. 5 duratrans photos in light box
Photo: Piru de la Puente
Un lugar secreto [A Secret Place] is a new project exploring key elements of romantic identity, such as the fusion of man and nature, and the generative power of dreams. Body and spirit travel together the path of the real-imaginary, in the search and perception of our ultimate truth within the depths of the oneiric, the flight from matter or its transformation, and the creative power of the spirit.
A directly autobiographic iconography here reinforcing its mysterious and cryptic nature by merging with the singular features of a space conditioning the reading of photographic images, by strengthening its timeless and magical atmosphere and by connecting the vernaculars of a baroque religious art and its decorative geometric repertoire, totally lacking in figurative referents, with the personal expression of an artist assuming, from her own body, from her own face, the will to become the central element of her work, and in doing so speaking about the fleetingness of time and the value of the instant in which that mutation is formulated.
A referential element of the rich monumental heritage of Grado, the chapel is part of the palace of the Mirandas or of the Marquis of Valdecarzana, the most powerful family of the Asturias Ancien Régime in recent centuries. It was built in 1716, following a project attributed to the architect Francisco de la Riba. In contrast with the stern classicism of its facades, its interior surprises us with its palatial dimensions, the texture and chromatic quality of the pinkish limestone used in its construction, the rich decorative repertoire with geometric variations, and its striking dome.
