texts — artxistential

LORETO VALENZUELA

Imaginaries [2008] Granchester Meadows, Cambridge.
Foto © Claudia Fritz

My practice begins not with the wire itself, but with its shadow. I trace the projected outlines of tangled wires—delicate, unruly lines cast by light onto paper or wall. These wires, bent and overlapping, hold for me the emotional residues of grief: twisted, unresolved, difficult to hold. I do not untangle them. I do not correct them. I trace their shadows—ephemeral and imprecise—as a way to stay close to what cannot be fully understood.

This raises a question: can such a practice offer something to others—especially those who have experienced grief, displacement, or rupture? I believe it can, not as a solution, but as a shared way of staying with uncertainty. Tracing what is barely there asks us to slow down and attend to what usually escapes notice. It makes space not for answers, but for recognition.
In this way, tracing becomes a quiet offering: a gesture toward healing—not by resolving pain, but by giving it shape, and allowing others to glimpse their own entanglements reflected back, and know they are not alone.

Expired [2025]