Inhabited Words

A kimono sways, almost imperceptibly, before our eyes. It dances, sinuously, to the tune of a flute. The notes accompany us on the path of fine white silk that furrows fabric and letters.

Inhabited Words, by textile artist Susana Arce, talks to us about oblivion, rediscovered silence, and the passage of time: about how it transforms things, deconstructs to rebuild, and transforms our reality.

The voices of Carmen Martín Gaite, Marguerite Durás, Josefina Aldecoa, Carmen Laforet and Cecilia Böhl de Faber y Ruiz de Larrea whisper to us, hidden behind a veil of silk muslin. Their words, printed on paper that wrinkles and falls apart, dissolve into the wool of the kimono and inform us of the strength that is hidden behind their apparent fragility. They are inhabited words that resonate within us.

In this way, the artist pays homage to the women who marked, with their voices, the life of her mother and her own. And she does it by weaving their words into the fabric of a kimono because, just like books, these garments of traditional Japanese culture, passed down from generation to generation, are capable of seizing time and transmitting what has been lived through threads and metaphors.

Inhabited Words is the first act of an exhibition conceived in two acts. We will also be able to see the conclusion at the Cultural Center, in the month of December.