This project made between Barcelona and Bogotá, was born from the personal need to deal with the difficulty of facing the Spanish migratory bureaucracy while asking for a temporary residence permit.

Upon arriving in Bogota, I was advised to do depurative baths with bitter and sweet herbs to release stress. Inspired by this traditional herbal practice, I worked with the paper accumulated during my "legalization" process. Washing it of meaning, cleaning it and discharging it with herbal water. The research continued finding ways to re-signify it from its content elements (cells, signatures, stamps, and dates) and transforming its materiality.
The installation consists of a glass box filled with water where islands or jellyfish, made of paper submerged in kerosene, float. A collection of candles made of paper, small sculptures made of waxed paper, collage, embroidered paper, and a tower of leftover paper. The installation resulted in an altar, an intimate atlas that, open to the interaction of the public, resulted in a space of care for memory, a purifying bathing ritual action.

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The laws and procedures of "legalization" of the presence of a person, in this case Colombian, in a given European territory, in this case the Spanish state, are the macabre apparatus of a colonial and racist system. The lives marked by the injustices of this inhumane system are countless. No human being is illegal.


This project was part of Equinoccio Exploraciones Barcelona, Berlin, Bogotá (EQNX BBB 2016) festival.
Special thanks to Catalina Gomez-Rueda and Oriana Fajardo for their collaboration.