Feminine expression in artistic dialogue

The La Misericordia Cultural Center in Palma hosts two exhibitions that vindicate female voices through the interaction between memory, art and words: 'Writing in the artistic story' and 'Laundries'. These artistic projects connect history with the present, and create a common thread that links personal experiences with collective memory.

Curated by Mercè Alsina, 'Writing in the artistic narrative' brings together the works of seven contemporary artists: Irene Solà, Alicia Kopf, Marla Jacarilla, Anna Dot, Laura Torres, Rita Puig-Serra and Almudena Lobera. Each of them explores the fusion between word and matter in an artistic proposal that questions traditional forms of narrative. Using techniques that oscillate between visual experimentation and personal fragmentation, these creators propose new ways of understanding writing and its relationship with art. The artists transcend the classic concept of writing as a merely descriptive or narrative tool and examine the word as a means of constructing the self and as a space where emotions, culture and interpersonal relationships become tangible.

Mercè Alsina, with a solid career as an art critic and an academic background in Art History and Theory, offers in this exhibition an in-depth look at how women and other often invisible voices explore forms of expression that distance themselves of conventional imaginaries. At the same time, it underlines the ability of the word to redefine identity and open new avenues of expression, with unexpected twists and daring proposals in relation to the word and materiality, which overflow the limits of traditional writing. For this exhibition, Alsina has adapted the project presented in 2022 to the Palau Foundation. Center d'Art-Caldes d'Estrac , adjusting it to the rooms attached to the Pati de les Rentadores de La Misericordia, in a particularly significant context for Majorcan cultural history.

‘L’escriptura en el relat artístic’, Mercè Alsina

At the same time, the exhibition 'Bugaderes', promoted by the poet and artist Laura Torres Bauzà and curated by Joana Serra and Carme Castells, claims the history and presence of the women who once gathered in the courtyard of La Misericordia to wash clothes . This courtyard, known as the Washermen's Yard, still retains elements of that past, such as the hooks on which the clothes were hung, and is now a space of living memory that pays tribute to those women. Torres Bauzà's work delves into the lives of these laundresses and their work as guardians of the intergenerational transmission of memory and words. Through period photographs and cyanotypes, the artist reinterprets the memories of the laundries and gives the images a timeless character, links the past with the present and recalls the connection of the yard with the women who worked there for years. The images, texts and photographs selected by Torres are presented as if they were pieces of laundry spread out in the yard.

Both exhibitions can be visited until November 25.

Instal·lació 'Bugaderes', Laura Torres Bauzà