Bilbao · Itinerario muralístico de Vitoria-Gasteiz

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A key - Giltza bat

Facts

Description

Based on a creative process that reflected on values for peace in the Basque Country: memory, future, diversity, tolerance, understanding, empathy, among others. The final work explores the basic idea of freedom of expression; the need to speak, of openness to others, that we all have as individuals and as a society.
 
Two women of different ages are in open dialogue. They are supported by a background of lace, a series of knots that illustrate the complexity of their relationship. Bright strips of color “weave” their way through their heads and their hearts, their intellect and their emotions. These are the contributions of many people who collaborated on this project with their own visions of the theme, by painting on pieces of technical cloth, which we then adhered to the wall. These multi-colored “ribbons” metaphorically represent a statement in favor of the complexity of rich expression, far from simple judgment or easy “lesson teaching”.

One of the women wears an interesting earring, giving the work its title:  Giltza bat / una Llave / a Key.  A great Basque artist, Peli Romarategi, lent us a curious little book, published in Argentina in 1947: Arquitectura Popular y Grafía Vasca, (Popular Basque Architecture and graphical Symbols,) by John de Zabalo. The author describes how “attributes that show the professions or work of the dead person are very often used on tombstones by the Basques. They give a very interesting hieroglyphic aspect to the composition.” On page 139 we discovered that the symbol for Women was a key!

We decided to take the key, as symbol, but not only for women, but for everyone´s expression. The key, one of many we humans carry on our key-chains. We can choose to use to close or to open a lock, depending on our objective. In this case, the key serves to unlock words and “set them free”.  This freedom is also a key, among others, for understanding and empathy. 

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