Exhibitions
Will Álava explores fragility and resilience from the margins
Fragility can also be a form of resistance. From this premise, Venezuelan-Ecuadorian filmmaker and photographer Will Álava presents * The Persistence of the Fragile *, an exhibition on view at the Manta Museum in Ecuador until November 1st. The show brings together two projects, * Flower of Combat * and *Angel Skin *, which explore the relationships between body, memory, identity, and territory through personal and collective experiences linked to the Ecuadorian coast.
The proposal stems from a reflection on subalternity and the difficulties of representing the voices that have historically been relegated to the margins. Engaging with the thought of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Álava questions the ways in which narratives about these communities are constructed and raises the need to examine the social, material, and ideological conditions that perpetuate their silencing. Rather than simply asking who can speak, the exhibition shifts the focus to the possibilities of living, establishing connections, and finding spaces of belonging.
In this context, photography and film become tools for exploring intimacy without detaching it from the power structures that permeate it. Affection, care, and memory acquire a political dimension, while territory ceases to be a mere backdrop and becomes an active participant in the construction of the identities and experiences that the artist addresses.
In Flor de combate (Flower of Combat) , Álava constructs an emotional archive from portraits and family and affective relationships. The series connects rural life, migration, and the structural violence that affects dissident bodies on the Ecuadorian coast. The flower that gives the project its title becomes a metaphor for the persistence of ways of life that, even in adverse environments, preserve their sensitivity and their capacity to create community.
Queer connections in Manabí, the examination of family relationships, and the collaboration with the Guayaquil Trans Shelter place the photographic practice within a space of political engagement. Proximity and care guide the creation of images that seek not only to document a reality, but also to acknowledge the complexity of the relationships and experiences that shape it.
Meanwhile, Angel Skin is a short fiction film that addresses queer childhood and the rituals of masculinity that shape the experience of growing up. Filmed in various locations in Manabí, the film follows Ángel, a boy whose sensitivity clashes with the dynamics of his family and community, marked by a violence that manifests itself in everyday gestures and personal relationships.
Through his journey, Álava examines how violence is learned, inherited, and reproduced, but also how affection, care, and imagination can open small possibilities for resistance. The landscape of Manabí acquires an active presence here, closely linked to the protagonist's memory, desire, and perspective.
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