instalación

The director of the Centro Cultural Tijuana, Mexico, invited me to create an installation in a space opened for these art works at the Center. I felt free to propose an installation that reflected who I am and where I come from. The exile has always been the cornerstone of the Luis Escutia family and a source of enrichment for both parents and offspring.

My respect for my Spanish roots and my full integration into a new environment in Mexico were the sources of inspiration for this ephemeral work that is a tribute to my parents, hence the title, and, by extension, to Spanish exiles in Mexico.

My family arrived in Mexico by boat (in the Mexique, 1939), and our childhood games and handwork that we did in my parents’ school (the Grupo Escolar Cervantes in Cordoba, Veracruz) served as the basis for the installation at the Tijuana Cultural Center (where, incidentally, I worked as museologist and curator).

The paper boat presented here is a model specially built for this exhibition. It was designed with the idea that it would stand up by itself.

The colors, since it was a tribute to my parents, showed the three colors of the Spanish Republican flag. The blue base represents the journey of the mythical Mexique. I placed ten crayons throughout the exhibition area and inside the paper boat to show that It carried no guns, but brought teachers.