"Flores de Debò" at the La Mercè Cultural Center

From May 2 to June 30, you can visit the exhibition of illustrations inspired by the text Flors de Debò published in the book Viatges i Flors de Mercè Rodoreda in the cloister of the La Mercè Cultural Center in Girona.

This exhibition is a collective work based on the fascination of illustrators, botanists and Rodoreda enthusiasts. "Flors de debò" is a text of thirty-eight short poetic proses that Mercè Rodoreda wrote in the early sixties. At the beginning of 2021, the publishing house El Ventre del Llop, born from the association Connexió Papyrus, from Celrà, started a real Flors illustration project with the aim of offering an exhibition for show the readings of the different flowers made by a considerable number of illustrators and then publish a book about them.

Several illustrators, two experts in botany and a literary historian were called to make a trip eventually undertaken by 35 people. It must be said that the presentation of this exhibition coincides with the forty years since the death of Mercè Rodoreda in Girona. According to the organizers, "our proposal chooses a path that is both familiar and unprecedented, since it combines the visual language of illustration (with precedents) and the scientific look of botany that we consider new. It is a proposal born from a work collective based on the fascination of illustrators, botanists and Rodoreda enthusiasts, ultimately readers, for open, metaphorical, beautiful and brutal prose".

The illustrators of this group exhibition are: Beni Ballesta, Rosa Bandrich, Imma Batlle, Ester Baulida, Carme Dapena, Maria Juna, Mim Juncà, Mònica Lopez, David Mart, Josep Masdevall, Laura Medina, Maria Mercader, Sara Ortiz, Rosa Pagès, Concha Pérez, Dolors Picazo, Assumpta Planas, Sandra Puig, Llich Roimeser, Aurembiaix Sabadell, Jordi Santana, Daniel Soms, Joan Tibau, Vanesa Zaro and Mercedes Zorrilla. On the other hand, the botanists are Albert Mallol and Mònica Lopez and the texts and introduction have been carried out by Neus Real.