Rita Puig-Serra
Anatomy Of An Oyster

Exhibition Details

Mother-of-pearl, which will in time become the pearl, begins to form when a foreign element is introduced into the oyster.

Starting from this metaphor, Catalan artist Rita Puig-Serra traces her childhood in an effort to process the abuses she suffered in her family as a child. It is an attempt to narrate what needs to be told; a way of articulating what could never be revealed to a now absent mother. And, at the same time, a way of telling it to herself.

The process of extraction is slow and delicate. It requires an observation phase in which to analyze every detail from different angles. It sustains itself in a balance between vulnerability and courage. You shall keep your focus and strength even when doubts come up, or your loved ones suggest you give up. It requires you to be present and move forward to understand with precision.

Anatomy Of An Oyster is about what we hold inside and don’t have the courage to say. Rita Puig-Serra uses photographs, text and archival images to tell her story. She searches through family photos for details of the person who abused her. She gets as close as possible, a cathartic exercise conveying the violence of a look. She recreates a letter written to her best friend and later burnt in a park. She embarks on a descent into an emotional, physical and analytical memory that serves to contextualize and make sense of the present.

The pearl, which is an oyster’s autobio- graphy, is the result of this exploration: a search carried out to find it, assimilate it, and finally remove it.