Memorial Mujer y Tiempo
Ignacia Murtagh + Andrea Murtagh
Cliente
Memorial Mujer y Tiempo
Location
Parque de los reyes, Santiago, Chile.
Gross Built Area
40 m2
Year 2021
The primary inspiration for this proposal in sculpture has been visualizing the essence of Chilean women over time, understanding this perspective as something encompassing various viewpoints in continuous construction and change.
Based on this principle, our proposal focuses on the strength of Chilean women, which is grounded in the choice of material for the sculpture: stone, specifically lapis lazuli or its derivative, lapisgris (lapis lazuli with a lower percentage of blue). This noble mineral is extracted from the depths of the Andes Mountains and was declared the National Stone in 1984. For this purpose, we selected blocks of lapisgris. Unlike pure lapis lazuli, lapisgris is a mixed material, a blend of granite, calcite, pyrite, and a smaller percentage of lazurite, characterized by its intense and varied grey and deep blue veining. These features make each block a unique material, whose irreplaceable tones and nuances have led us to shape diversity, solidity, and beauty as constitutive traits of the feminine being of our land. The specificity of our proposal lies in transforming the stone. Just as Chilean women are defined by the abrupt and generous geography of which they are a part and live, these stone blocks are sculpted and transformed by artisans. As they are worked, their irregularities and deeper fissures are revealed, exposing experiences of Chilean women's identity. From these blocks will emerge asymmetrical globular forms of various sizes, determined by the nature of the rock. These enveloping lines refer to the feminine essence as a nucleus, center, and bowl that embraces and contains life. The sculpture is conceived as a unified composition of these independent volumes, with the pieces arranged within an invisible circular outline. It represents a continuous and collective relationship, a feminine symbol of a shared construction over time.
The experiences of Chilean women over time have paved the way for presenting this proposal with complete autonomy and freedom today. We hope that our work will inspire and continue the path of women. The intense blue of the material in this sculptural proposal invites communication with the vastness of being.