The body memory kicks in, 2022- 2023
Hung, stretched, suspended. How far can a muscle be pulled before it cramps or snaps? Migratory, settled, halfway. The compass works across continents. Shaped, adorned, fractured. What purpose do they serve and what do they eventually shatter against? Diana Barbosa Gil's works are an inventory of relics, activated by the stress and anxiety they dilute, destined for reactive absorption. They are the ones who take over the brain and heart when they fail under the weight of a traumatic recall. And with each passing experience, surrendering to their sway becomes easier. Just as the vagus nerve, named for its characteristic wandering in the landscapes of the body, autonomously and subconsciously controls many organ processes, and its malfunction quickly deteriorates entire bodily processes, there is a reason to believe that personal histories can be stored in all cellular cells. So I let these pieces of body memory kick in – a needle to pierce the ocean in armoured halls cloaked in reseda green.
Eva Slabá
