DIALOGUES ACROSS WALLS

Amanda Linares’ Dialogues Across Walls considers the house as a symbol of identity and memory. Over time, a house accumulates markings and remnants that capture its layered history, becoming a metaphorical "skin" that encapsulates and reveals the lives within. Cracks, shadows, insects, and everyday objects embody the passage of time and the fragmented nature of memory, conveying how physical spaces can hold and reflect our personal and collective pasts. This symbolism attempts to show the intimate connection that exists between our environment and our lived experience.

The exhibition is housed in four consecutive spaces that are connected by an interior enfilade, a series of rooms formally aligned with each other, creating a narrative sequence. Each room has a unique atmosphere prompted by its composition and materiality. As visitors navigate the exhibition from one space to the next, the conversation and continuity between the works are emphasized.

Concrete is a key material amongst the exhibition, used as a canvas, container, and connector throughout, portraying the many stages and forms that a structure can exist as over time. Dialogues Across Walls prompts viewers to consider themes of adaptability, fragility, softness, petrification, and friction through materiality. Delicate drawings of insects, shadows, and objects appear petrified in concrete, creating a sense of duality between opposing features–hard and soft, interior and exterior, public and private–within the space. Cracks in ceramic and concrete, both real and imagined, are allegorical representations of the ever-changing foundation of a home and the resilience required to adapt to new environments, mirroring the experience of immigration.

A floor piece made with ceramic and concrete will be part of a Memory Mapping Workshop, where participants use artist-made tiles to visually and poetically depict their memories. This element is a crucial part of the exhibition, as it emphasizes the importance of the house as a space for gathering and community.

Room 1

Room 2

Room 3

Room 4

2024