Linking Lives Exhibition: Interview with the Artist. Raquel González Obregón.
After being part of Linking Lives exhibition, curated by Irene Sánchez Gómez, Raquel González Obregón reflects on her art in an interview with Myriam Martínez Gómez.
“Thinking of (considering) myself an artist? It’s huge”, Raquel González Obregón confesses, “but I guess I am”. “It sounds corny, but I’m really passionate about art, and I try to make my work and free time revolve around it.” “Studying my degree, I was able to experiment with different types of art. I ended up specializing in photography […], but I have always wanted my work to be multidisciplinary, so that the medium was not the end, but rather a process.”
Restless by nature, Raquel has lived in Madrid, Poland and is now settled in Berlin, “I’m the manager of a commercial gallery, and then in my free time I try to produce my work.” Raquel uses metaphor and irony to address the dynamics of social relationships and power structures, questioning identity and contemporary rituals. Through installations, photography, and drawings, she creates a sensory dialogue with the viewer, encouraging new interpretations of the constantly shifting nature of society.
“It is true that there’s the practical process and there’s the research part, but the ideas [developed in her work] are intuitive for me.” Alongside Victoria Llorente she has created ‘OTHER VOICES’, a work, part of the Linking Lives exhibition, that transcends visual dialogue and crosses geographical and cultural borders. It explores, through artistic expression, the richness of the human experience. A reminder that, even in the midst of hyperconnectivity and rootlessness, we can still find refuge in creativity, in memory and in the connections we weave with others in spaces like BARDO.
Each stitch in their tapestry is an act of reparation, a slow and constant action that is essential to rebuilding a home. This act of weaving, both literally and symbolically, adds to the web of experiences that make Berlin a living organism. Inspired by Nicolas Bourriaud’s ideas on relational aesthetics, the artists invite the viewer not only to observe, but to walk and witness the sounds and rhythms of the city as a living, breathing entity.
“Vicky is from a small city just like me, we’ve studied in Madrid, we have kind of the same background. Berlin is very important for us – and a hard city to be in, too -, because we realized that it was what united us the most. We talked about Berlin almost as if it were a third person”. [With their ‘HABITAR COSIENDO’ workshop] “We wanted to reflect on that ‘Frankenstein’ facet that is formed with all the people you meet outside your country of origin, listen to other experiences and create art from them.” “For me, contemporary art is something that everyone – and museums – should be more open to. There should be more initiatives, like the ones that are starting to be done now”, such as their own workshop, “so that everyone can enjoy it – so that it is not just an abstract painting on the wall that people do not know how to interpret”.
Returning to Bourriaud, “[he] writes that there are artworks that take on a new dimension when the public observes them, touches them, becomes part of them. I believe in this, and I’m very interested in seeing how people interact with our piece: if they toy with it – on one occasion, they even stepped on the tapestry – or if they’re afraid to meddle with it. It’s fun.” “I cannot conceive a work without no one to see it.” (see for yourselves how the ‘HABITAR COSIENDO’ workshop went clicking on the post below)
“What interests me above all else is everyday life. All my projects affect me personally, I always speak in first person, from a very subjective point of view. My work is based on making an intimate experience something collective, one with which everyone can empathize.”
“I also have a project that talks about the war in Ukraine, and it’s true that it does not ‘concern me’ personally, but when I moved here I met a lot of Ukrainians. It’s about seeing what things catch your attention, what you want to continue investigating and dealing with in your work. Sometimes in a more serious way, as this project was, and other times in a more ironic way.”
“When you produce an art piece, you start with an idea and it ends up being something totally different. You have to deal with what may happen, know that you can’t control everything, but I like to be very consistent with what I do and with my discourse. The decisions I make are deliberate, very conscious, everything has its reason for being”.
Describing her work, Raquel considers “that the word ‘political’ is something… That it’s political, indeed. I used to make more ‘demanding’ works, but now I leave their interpretation quite free, I let the public decide”, a path that she has followed instinctively, “If they want to take it as vindictive or as a criticism – although usually my objective is not to criticize something directly, but to present what I see in a genuine way and with a sense of humor -, it’s up to each person.”
“I think the most controversial project I have is my thesis [RA-BLE], which deals with the similarities between rave culture and the Catholic religion. I haven’t had any problems because Berlin is a city that’s supposed to be more open to these experiences, more secular […], but I know that, for example, in Santander [her hometown in Spain], which is very conservative and very religious, that wouldn’t have been the case”. “I try to play constantly with the limits of what you can and can’t do, see when you can force them and when you can’t. In the end, you also have to be aware that there are places in which you behave in one way or another”.
“I have known this space for a long time, before Irene, the LINKING LIVES curator who contacted us, started working there. Projektraum like BARDO, which are not commercial galleries, are very important for artists who are starting their careers. Furthermore, BARDO is a project made by and for migrants and people from the FLINTA collective, a totally horizontal, more underground space, where a lot of ideas, people, everything, fluctuate” and where ‘OTHER VOICES’ and ‘HABITAR COSIENDO’ fit perfectly.
“The most ‘reliable’ part of art is that it requires a lot of mental and physical effort: you have to be very consistent and very persistent, be in contact with people all the time.” Raquel does not close herself to anything, and has worked for several artists: “It has been very useful for my learning experience; you can take what interests you, see what you think you could improve, what you could apply to your work”. “I think the most important thing is to know that it’s not really your work, you can contribute to it, but only to a certain extent.”
Although she already has certain ideas outlined for the future, she doesn’t like it when people ask her what her next projects are so soon.“I try to imagine what I would like my work to be like if I had all the time and money in the world. And then I aim to make it with what I have.”
Myriam Martínez Gómez
