SIXTEEN STORIES WRITTEN BY RELEVANT PEOPLE FROM MALAGA DURING CONFINEMENT AND FOR SOLIDARITY PURPOSES

Abrazos prestados (Borrowed Hugs) is the title of this work, which has also become the cover of the book that was presented on Friday, September 11^that the Rectorate of the University of Malaga for solidarity purposes.

Sixteen stories signed by 18 ‘madmen in solidarity’ among whom we find ourselves, Marimar Segura and myself. In it, we describe our thoughts, ideas and concerns during the confinement we lived just a few months ago as a consequence of COVID-19.

Why call the artwork Abrazos prestados?

When I created Abrazos prestados we were at the height of the pandemic, in late March and early April. We were surrounded by uncertainty everywhere.

In this cover I reflect the desire, the yearning… because what we needed most at that moment was to have contact with the people we wanted but couldn’t. Neither friends, nor parents, nor family, nor nephews… we could not have physical contact with anyone beyond the person with whom we were confined.

Abrazos prestados is the hope of the arrival of that longed-for hug, which we cannot give in full yet, due to the measures of social distancing and other restrictions.

The book Abrazos prestados reflects the need, that desire to hug the people we love.

The artwork is included within the series ‘Suite Melancolía’. It is conceived with that nostalgic haze of melancholic desire for the people we love.

Abrazos prestados, the book

That same need to hug is what the book is all about. It addresses all those hugs that even today we cannot give to our loved ones.

Prominent figures of Malaga, including actresses, journalists, writers, doctors, businessmen, painters and actors take us through a journey from the deepest feelings of sadness, hope and the need to hug the other.

A total of 16 chapters, written by the 18 collaborators, whose magic lies in the fact that none of them is similar to the one before.

In the work of Abrazos prestados there is no sadness or joy, but the certainty of an event that will occur, the image reaching the viewer directly to the nervous system, and ultimately to the brain and memory.

A project with solidarity purposes

The surgeon César Ramírez, who has written an emotional story showing his concern when the virus enters his family, has also been the buyer of the work. The artwork is made with oil-based charcoal and oil pastel on a Saunders Waterford’s paper 2020, 24×19’5 cm.

The benefits obtained with the sale of the canvas, as well as the money raised with the sales of the book, have solidarity purposes and will be donated to the non-governmental organization Red Cross Malaga.

The book can be purchased in the bookstores Librería Proteo and Prometeo, both in physical store and through its website www.libreriaproteo.com.