Around the Table
This mural sits on the outskirts of Valencia, as a tribute to the women who used to work the rural landscapes of L'Orta and whose labour often went unrecognised. Day after day they would sit around the table, sorting by hand the produce grown from the surrounding land. While they worked, they would talk; sharing stories about their lives.
The empty chairs evoques the little recognition these women received for their hard work. We hope for the mural to illuminate the impact of their invaluable, and far too overlooked, contributions to the local environment and families they supported.
A rosary slung over one of the chairs, is a nod to the strong sense of community cultivated between them - it’s more than a religious symbol, it has cultural significance and it’s deeply rooted in the memory of the family that has lived in this house for generations. Jose Vicente, pictured above, has lived his whole life in this house and remembers vividly there was a set time in the afternoon when the children and women of the family gathered to pray with the rosary, forming a circle.
The land which the women of L'Orta worked on is still divided into neat irrigated rectangles, creating dynamic rhythms of patterns which change color through the seasons. The field itself, with furrows, textures and water adorn the table like a tablecloth.
The chal, draped over the second chair, was hand painted by one such women who found in crafts her artistic expression. Women have traditionally taken on the role of improving materials, homes and people around them. The chal is adorned and adorning, adding value in the same way the mural is.
The anamorphic distortion can be seen in thies piicturedistortion can be seen in this picture on the chair
The mural is painted on a corner, so we stretched half of the image to make it seem to continue, regardless of the change of angle. This anamorphic effect is an optical illusion with which we wanted to change the perception of the space.
'Les donnes espigolen la memoria de l'orta' (The women glean the memory of L'orta) is the phrase that appears at the base of the mural, a contribution from the owner of the house.
