POLYGAMY

Threads that anonymously depict the colour of custom and tradition. Threads that form a labyrinth of flags from an exotic dream. A forest of threads, ideal for you to take a walk in or to play in. Yet at the same time it is a forest that keeps those secrets hidden that are about to be unveiled. María Gimeno’s installation is set in a space articulated through colourful lines crossing diagonally from floor to ceiling, forcing the viewer to plunge into an unknown world. The viewer moves through these spaces with the caution and the care with which we move through places that are new to us. The many colours represent the flags of the many countries where polygamy is now or has been legal in the past, where women are not the equals of men. This beautiful forest of flags was felled at the end of the exhibition in front of the exhibition’s visitors, as a symbol of the desire to abolish discriminatory traditions, even though behind these flags lie worlds that are not fully understood by Westerners. The action of cutting is radical action and one that is irreversible. It is both an act of generosity and of censure, of abolition and of understanding. Where there was tension, there will be countless threads hanging freely, without any kind of context.