Born in Argentina, LatinAmerica (Dec.1980)
www.valeriaalvesdaflorencia.com
This is my third stay in Brig. In the first one (Mar-May 2019), I delved into the pattern of Valais women's lives, into the nexus between their public and private lives and their way of coping with the outside world. Project "Frauen. Private Welten. Öffentliches Leben."
In my second (honorary program) stay (Nov2020-Jan2021), I focused on the personal search for genealogical connections, working from there on the expression of emotional wounds. Project "Engraved."
In this third stay (Jan-Feb 2022) I dive into the path of mourning. Project “The timing of loss.”
The stillbirth of my daughter in July 2021 transported me into the worst darkness of my life experience. It’s a loss that finds no parallel.
In those first months, the only activity I could barely concentrate on was knitting crochet. A technique I had learned as a child from my maternal grandmother, and which I had not practiced for decades. Focusing on the work of my hands, breathing in the rhythm of each stitch, brought me back to the present, to that moment in which I was strongly struggling to be. Inwards, into the deepest silence of loss.
Today, five months after the departure of my tout-petite, I decided to work on a textile artwork, which I plan to integrate into a performance at the end of the residency. This performance will be developed by the Saltina river, between the high mountains and the snow, in the complete solitude of the Alps winter.
Together with the local artist Elisabeth Fux-Mattig, we will walk the path of encounter in mourning through creation.
AFTER RESIDENCY: SECOND PERFORMANCE The Kapelle zen Hohen Flühen (Gemeinde Bitsch (VS)-Schweiz), for years, was the enclosure in which babies born lifeless were buried in a common site, in a meadow, behind the chapel.
The pain experienced by this loss was for decades minimized and silenced by society. In this place, between legends and wonders, stillborn babies were baptized, in the assumption that during the ritual they came back to life to receive the Holy Grace.
In the upcoming months, I will pursue a performative act in this place, using as symbolic object the mantle developed during this residency.
www.valeriaalvesdaflorencia.com
This is my third stay in Brig. In the first one (Mar-May 2019), I delved into the pattern of Valais women's lives, into the nexus between their public and private lives and their way of coping with the outside world. Project "Frauen. Private Welten. Öffentliches Leben."
In my second (honorary program) stay (Nov2020-Jan2021), I focused on the personal search for genealogical connections, working from there on the expression of emotional wounds. Project "Engraved."
In this third stay (Jan-Feb 2022) I dive into the path of mourning. Project “The timing of loss.”
The stillbirth of my daughter in July 2021 transported me into the worst darkness of my life experience. It’s a loss that finds no parallel.
In those first months, the only activity I could barely concentrate on was knitting crochet. A technique I had learned as a child from my maternal grandmother, and which I had not practiced for decades. Focusing on the work of my hands, breathing in the rhythm of each stitch, brought me back to the present, to that moment in which I was strongly struggling to be. Inwards, into the deepest silence of loss.
Today, five months after the departure of my tout-petite, I decided to work on a textile artwork, which I plan to integrate into a performance at the end of the residency. This performance will be developed by the Saltina river, between the high mountains and the snow, in the complete solitude of the Alps winter.
Together with the local artist Elisabeth Fux-Mattig, we will walk the path of encounter in mourning through creation.
AFTER RESIDENCY: SECOND PERFORMANCE The Kapelle zen Hohen Flühen (Gemeinde Bitsch (VS)-Schweiz), for years, was the enclosure in which babies born lifeless were buried in a common site, in a meadow, behind the chapel.
The pain experienced by this loss was for decades minimized and silenced by society. In this place, between legends and wonders, stillborn babies were baptized, in the assumption that during the ritual they came back to life to receive the Holy Grace.
In the upcoming months, I will pursue a performative act in this place, using as symbolic object the mantle developed during this residency.
