Ana Gallardo (Rosario, 1958 – lives in Mexico City) was invited to create a work for the Museo Moderno Café exploring the table as a cultural object that nurtures emotional care and community ties. As a background for the work, Gallardo chose an enlargement of a painting by her mother – also an artist – who died when she was just seven years old. Grounded in her connection with family absence and the possibility of everyday remembrance, Gallardo decided to visit various families across Argentina whose children were disappeared. During these encounters, she identified objects dearly treasured by the families, objects that brought back their absent loved ones. Gallardo selected some of these objects and made drawings of many others, bringing them together in a still life that recalls her mother’s passion for creation and serves as a framework to hold the heartfelt conversations the work evokes. Materials for Memory thus stages the intimate gestures in which art cherishes the presence of those we miss. These are memories nestled in the architecture of the domestic and the quiet beauty that accompanies our daily lives. Full of hope, their gentle presence guards the healing emotion of new encounters.
Production: Edgar Lacombe
Text: Nicolás Cuello