Eva, Cleopatra, Marie Curie, María Zambrano, and Rei Kawakubo are the protagonists of Those Who Arrived Before, the exhibition by E·R·A·X that can be visited from October 28 to November 12 at the Espacio Jovellanos in Madrid. Its creative director, Claudia Romero, has brought together Spanish artists and artisans to interpret their stories through five pieces that blend fashion, ceramics, basketry, painting, and textile art.
Raquel Buj, Raúl del Chano, Mariadela Araujo, Marta de la Fuente, and Rosa J. Arenas, from Temple Ceramic, collaborate with E·R·A·X on the works of the show. Microplastics, wicker, wire threads, painted fabrics, and ceramics are among the materials they have worked with.
“I am passionate about craft and the world of art; I believe we have a very high national potential,” Claudia tells Condé Nast Traveler. She wanted to develop a collaborative project, to learn other ways of working, and to see how an idea evolves as it passes through different hands. The choice of the theme also responds to a concern: she worries that we may deem women’s demands as resolved, forgetting what it cost to reach here and what remains to be done.
The five protagonists of Those Who Arrived Before have a lot to do with her own life. “Throughout our lives we can be each of them, but within our own circumstances,” she explains. In Eva, she recognizes the teenager who needed to forge her path, to err without guilt, and to enjoy her achievements. Cleopatra serves as a working reference: she admires a firm and strategic leadership that also accommodates compassion and empathy. She returns to Marie Curie when she needs to regain the drive to carry on with a project.
María Zambrano is one of her favorites. The poetic reason, with its link between thought and emotion, resonates with her way of understanding life. Rei Kawakubo represents a creative aspiration: “I would love to have, in such a genuine way, the body conception that she has.” From the founder of Comme des Garçons she admires that freedom to imagine other forms of beauty without conforming to the established canons.
