La expulsión del paraíso
Silvia Gruner
Expulsion from Paradise
Silvia Gruner’s work is framed by her critique of identity-based positions and the use of symbols in historical processes. Initially designed to cover the windows of the convent in Tepoztlán, Morelos, the installation comprises yellow bars of Tepeyac-brand laundry soap, which have been carved to accommodate small pre-Colombian figurines.
The piece revisits the artist’s recurring language by associating ideas of cleanliness and bodily hygiene with signs of identity crisis and cultural erasure. The title is a clear reference to the Book of Genesis, and the brand of soap alludes to popular religiosity—yet Gruner reinvents these references with materials belonging to the feminine and domestic realms, in tension with idolatry, the power of relics, and a historical perspective.
SILVIA GRUNER (1959)
La expulsión del paraíso, 1993
Expulsion from Paradise
Installation. Soap, pottery shards, crystal, sugar, cloth, wood, and hair
Acquisition, 2005
