Te regalo

This piece was created to be shown at my first exhibit with 44.4 the Mother Artist Collective at the Centre d’exposition Art-Image.

The name of the exhibition is NOW I KNOW WHAT NOTHING IS. A show inspired by a photograph published in Patti Smith’s A Book Of Days, a book containing 366 images from Smith’s life. In this image, Smith sits in a chair, chin in the heel of her hand. She is lost in thought, a distinct heaviness to her gaze. The caption accompanying the photo reads:
This is just thinking of nothing. I remember my mother sitting like this. And I would ask, what is it Mommy? And she would say, Oh nothing. And now I know what nothing is.’
This show is all about the mental load and all the invisible labour that mothers do. The thinking, the worrying, the planning, the pivoting, the remembering, the organizing, the sizing, the foreseeing. Because “Nothing” is in fact everything, and everything is exhausting and overwhelming.
My piece (like all my work) is named after a song. “Te regalo” (I gift you) is a song written by Carla Morrison that talks about unconditional love and giving all you have and all you are so the other person is Ok.

“Let me take care of you,
let me hug you,
let me show you
everything I have to make you very happy

I gift you my legs,
rest your head on them
I gift you my strengths,
use them when you have none

I gift you the pieces
that make up my soul,
may you never ever lack anything
I will love you until I die”

This song perfectly explains the unconditional love I have for my daughter. The “why” behind every decision and every sacrifice I’ve made since she was conceived.

My piece is a paper sculpture of one whole brain and half of a bigger brain that hugs the smaller one. The smaller brain represents my daughter’s brain and the bigger one represents mine.

My two-year-old's brain is divided into four lobes and each one of them is filled with things she loves depending on the function of each lobe. The frontal lobe is in charge of listening and music, rhythm and drawing so I had her draw on the paper and then used it to wrap that area and on top of it put symbols of all of her favourite songs. The parietal lobe is in charge of reading so I made her favourite characters from her favourite books. The occipital lobe is in charge of the sight so I put all of the things she loves to watch, flowers, the moon, stars, dogs, bubbles! And finally the temporal lobe that has a lot to do with speech, so I wrote down all of those cute words that she mispronounces and that I love! My favourite one is “Te mano” instead of “Te amo”(I love you). Overall, her brain is a happy perfect little world filled with colour and life. Which is what I wish I can provide for her throughout her life.

In contrast, my brain was made with one single colour, and covered with a net of tangled questions where you can read all of the things I’ve googled since she was born. You would not believe how many times I searched: “Early waking solutions”

You can find more information about the show and my fellow artists at 44.4 website.