Exhibitions
You once spoke of permanence: Bersabé's emotional realism reaches the MUREC
Virginia Bersabé (Córdoba, 1990) and her work are the protagonists of the new temporary exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Realism (MUREC) in Almería, with "Once You Spoke of Permanence ." It is on display in the Temporary Exhibition Hall II of the Andalusian museum until September 28th, in a journey comprising five series of works created between 2018 and 2024.
Tell me which handkerchief you want. 2020. Project: And you will kiss the forehead of your time, Artist's Collection
Memory, old age, identity, and generational relationships are the themes Virginia Bersabé explores, and she does so through large-scale figurative realism, which vindicates the presence of older women as protagonists of today, of the present, through a visible and dignified voice.
Her work revolves around the figure of the older woman, delicately weaving a narrative where skin, environment, and memory intertwine to shape identity. Through an intimate, generational connection with her subjects—often elderly women close to her everyday world—she gives visibility to silenced bodies, usually relegated to the shadows by a society that prefers not to look at them.
Above the Stars. Arremembrar Project, 2017. Artist's collection.
Curated by Juan Manuel Martín Robles, the painting transforms into the very skin of those who inhabit the canvas, revealing everything without reservation. Each work vibrates on multiple levels, inviting a sensorial and emotional experience that transcends the gaze. MUREC explains: “In this dialogue, the relationship between space-time and old age functions as a transgenerational testament. Aging as a narrative, the accounting of the ways in which a subject perceives, sees, and understands themselves as such, both by themselves and by others, within a temporal logic that implies the very course of life, is powerful in works such as Sobre las estrellas (Over the Stars, 2017), for through them, Virginia positions us before longevity, the passage of time, and deterioration.”
Virginia Bersabé engages the viewer from an intimate realm, charged with meaning and life experiences, where past, present, and future converge on the surface of the canvas or gouache, techniques she frequently employs. Through fragments, frames, and diverse angles, she represents the elderly woman's body as an "other" body, marked by ageism. Her work reflects on old age as a form of socially constructed otherness, the fruit of the patterns and hierarchies that govern contemporary life.
In Her Mirror. 2016. Project: Southern Abode. Artist's collection.
In Once You Spoke of Permanence , everything is visible; each of the works on display interacts in several ways. It's necessary to identify the visual codes, but Bersabé develops an entire narrative around the elderly and constructs the concept of old age through stigma, illness, and dependency; and also through love and care.
