Starting from the same point of departure, the poem Isla ignorada by Gloria Fuertes and, in particular, the verse “diamante en mi montaña”, Alba Suau develops a project that will be presented at the Palau de Casavells from October 27 to November 28. During the same period, a selection of ten works can be seen at Alzueta Gallery Barcelona Sèneca as part of the T-10 Project, the gallery’s recurring format dedicated to presenting ten small-format works by a single artist.

At the heart of the project lies the image of a mountain that Alba Suau begins to imagine as a person, as an other. A figure that seems to approach and recede at the same time, which the artist seeks to reach through painting. As Suau reveals: “What did it hold? Who was it? All I receive are its glimmers, and I decide to paint that mystery.”

Soy como esa isla que ignorada,
late acunada por árboles jugosos,
en el centro de un mar
que no me entiende,
rodeada de nada,
—sola sólo—.

Hay aves en mi isla relucientes,
y pintadas por ángeles pintores,
hay fieras que me miran dulcemente,
y venenosas flores.
Hay arroyos poetas
y voces interiores
de volcanes dormidos.

Quizá haya algún tesoro
muy dentro de mi entraña.
¡Quién sabe si yo tengo diamante en mi montaña,
o tan sólo un pequeño
pedazo de carbón!

Los árboles del bosque de mi isla,
sois vosotros mis versos.
¡Qué bien sonáis a veces
si el gran músico viento
os toca cuando viene el mar que me rodea!

A esta isla que soy, si alguien llega,
que se encuentre con algo es mi deseo;
—manantiales de versos encendidos
y cascadas de paz es lo que tengo—.

Un nombre que me sube por el alma
y no quiere que llore mis secretos;
y soy tierra feliz —que tengo el arte
de ser dichosa y pobre al mismo tiempo—.

Para mí es un placer ser ignorada,
isla ignorada del océano eterno.

En el centro del mundo sin un libro
sé todo, porque vino un mensajero
y me dejó una cruz para la vida

—para la muerte me dejó un misterio.

(Isla ignorada, Gloria Fuertes)

A few months before starting this project, I read the poem La isla ignorada by Gloria Fuertes, and one verse became lodged in my mind: diamante en mi montaña (“a diamond in my mountain”).

I kept repeating the phrase, and as I did so, a duality emerged. I saw myself as the mountain, and I saw the mountain as an other. Both were throbbing, both were alive.

I envisioned this mountain-person, but every time its image began to appear, it would move away again. I began to paint in order to get closer to it. What did it hold? Who was it? Only its glimmers reach me, and I decide to paint that mystery.

(Text by Alba Suau)