a(r)mour

The title “a(r)mour” comes from a word game: armour (armour in English) and amour (love in French). The encounter with an object, a possible armour, is the starting point of this artistic project that seeks to explore the relationship between vulnerability and protection. I am interested in the idea of ​​armour as an object of “isolation” from the surrounding world, and according to the part of the body it protects. The armour is, therefore, at the same time a defense, a “transfiguration” of the body where we question the relationships between our body: both as the center and space of predictable control and in relation to others (periphery and space of uncertain lack of control) . The dichotomy between the inside (center) and the outside (periphery) is not so obvious when we relate to others and cross the boundaries of bodies, when proximity and distances shorten and we become vulnerable . The found object becomes a prelude, an introductory piece to a series of textile sculptures with which I seek a balance between vulnerability and protection, deconstructing concepts and creating new imaginations. The object found is a piece of rusty iron that accidentally ended up in a street in London, the city where I live. The piece ends up adopting a new shape and over time the object shows its fragility due to its delicate thickness. After days in the workshop, I imagine the object as a possible body armour: the armour that protects us from the outside world and from our own inner world. I seek to directly incorporate my body in order to imagine new forms of proximity, care, protection and vulnerability, seeking the balance of bodies in a tangible and intuitive way. Armour was born with the basic purpose of protecting the human body, soft and vulnerable in combat, but what does the armour we build around us look like? The one we build day by day in front of the chest, protecting the heart? What does the armor look like in relation to my body?

Curated by Núria Bitria.