"Maleza"

In the past, field or study trips were made from the northern to the southern hemisphere. Europeans traveled to unknown lands to discover them, and to discover themselves. For me the operation has been the opposite. My journey is an inverted expedition.

Maleza is born from the desire to reconnect spontaneously with nature, and as a celebration of my land. Weed (maleza) can be read as an unwanted but also a free willed element; less controlled and intervened, natural, and always there. Weed represents the wild and all the natural instincts that revive again, once we allow them spaces for it. Like the plants that grow on the sidewalks, nature — both around us and within oneself — will find a way to emerge, resist, and succeed.

I walk by Ciutadella Park every day. It is a place of transition, exactly in the middle between where I live and where I work. After the quarantine, the park's lawn, which was no longer cut and controlled by man for more than 90 days, appeared brave and wild, very different from the domesticated form to which we are accustomed. I wanted to paint scenes from the park on those extraordinary and special days.