Diluted in water

Critical text

Paula Alzugaray June 2008

Index / Paula Alzugaray

There is an invisible link connecting Beth Moysés’ performances. Each new work integrates the design of a subjective map that interconnects women from São Paulo, Seville, Salamanca, Murcia, Las Palmas, Montevideo, Cáceres, Madrid, Brasília and, now, Zaragoza. The women who invariably volunteer to take part in the performances are often victims of domestic violence. They are brought together around a poetics situated on the borderline between aesthetic experience and social mobilization. While drawing on their lived experiences, the artist plays the role of mediator between emotional intimacy and social space. The performances, which have largely been staged in public spaces in strategic areas of these cities, also serve as acts of expiation for the adversity and abuse suffered by women. Furthermore, as each of these evils is symbolically buried, burned, washed away and then scattered in public spaces, the ritualistic origins of the artist’s performances are evoked.

The rites proposed by Beth Moysés are presented with solemnity. The entrance of all the participants in a procession is the moment when she introduces her characters. They are invariably women dressed in white, with solemn expressions on their faces and an object in their hands. The cortege evokes a sense of communion. However, the steps of this procession are not those a bride would take down the church aisle towards the altar. In fact, the alliance established in Moysés’ work leads somewhere quite different: at the end of the journey, the participants form a circle, ready to exchange stories and information. The circle encourages the flow and circulation of the content generated during the performance. The ritual reaches its climax with the destruction of objects which, whether roses, wool yarn, embroidered gloves or kitchen sponges, serve as ex-votos representing personal stories to be purged.

The performance Diluídas em água [Diluted in Water], conceived to take place in the city of Zaragoza, takes on a purifying character. Although forty women take part in it, twenty remain hidden in their shelters and hideaways. These women, all victims of violence, write down their thoughts in red ink on white garments that the other twenty women will wear during the public presentation. Water is then entrusted with revealing the blood-red thoughts concealed beneath the white garments. The act of soaking, washing and wringing the clothes to remove the red lettering from the white fabric establishes a connection between this performance and the “blood ties” associated with sacrificial rites.

Beth Moysés’ performances articulate three irreducible ideas: intervention, expiation and reconstruction. The water, fire, earth and other elements employed in the process evoke memories and restore a sense of integrity. Indeed, this poetics fosters a sense of restorative well-being that can be felt both in the personal sphere, through the nurturing of affection and self-esteem among the participants, and, above all, in the social sphere. After all, the aesthetic experience of the performance restores to women the ability to express their empowerment.