Álvaro Corral Cid

“All the poetry, religious fervour and naive and primitive charm of Galicia is condensed in the popular song ‘Si vas a San Benitiño’ performed by the Coral Polifónica de Pontevedra for the viewers of NODO”. Noticiario Cinematográfico Español. No. 92 A (1944).

“Toda la poesía” is an artistic research project that reflects on the symbolic frameworks of Spanish folk heritage, focusing on the identity and political construction strategies of traditional apparel in Spain. Taking traditional Galician dress as a starting point, specifically the mantelo CE018560, needlework, dressmaking and wearing apparel appear as strategies of anthropological inquiry. Sewing, creating and thinking at the frontiers where imaginaries come to an end. The aforementioned garment, currently preserved in the Garment Museum EHRC in the city of Madrid, is part of the outfit ‘Woman’s Apparel. La Coruña (CE018560-CE018571)’. This type of long apron appears as one of the most characteristic garments of numerous regional costumes in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. However, according to the creator, what stands out is “the violent political overtones that make up the fabric of this piece”. Each braid, glass crystal, bead, sequin and embroidery adorning this cloth garment draws, according to the artist, “an image of symbolism, monograms and falangist propaganda.”

BIO
Álvaro Corral Cid, , artist and researcher born and raised in Ourense, graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid in fine arts (2022) and got a master’s degree in research in art and creation at the same institution (2023). His studies and artistic practice raise new points from which to rethink our canonical epistemologies, whether a printing press, a dusty manuscript or a waistcoat. Putting things together, searching among images and looking in-depth at meanings. Reflecting through material and procedural practice as artistic-historical research methodologies, his lines of study draw deep frameworks around the propagation of traditional clothing in Spain, the development of the country’s national and regional identities, or the construction of contemporary imaginaries through images and vestiges of the past. Engraving, sewing and investigation appear as his main artistic disciplines, which can be seen in national and international exhibitions and in academic writings such as En torno a una arqueología del imaginario folclórico español (2022) and D.R.A.G. (Dressing Resembling A Galician) (2023).

Credit Image: Biblioteca Nacional de España