Media: Installation-action.

Materials/Technique: 90 pieces of clothing, furniture, catalogue of the collection.

Dimensions: Variables.

Date: 2018.

Vanidades was articulated around the design of thirty pieces of clothing, created by synthesizing the images of certificates, diplomas and moral awards given to my grandmother by several political and mass organizations in Cuba from the ’60s until the ’90s. The appropriation of certain decorative elements from the certificates, to create utilitarian and commercial articles, establishes a comment on the changes occurring in contemporary Cuban society; in which, the value of sacrifice and unconditional effort, the value of moral recognition above any material compensation, has been replaced by the vindication of individuality, by the logics of surviving, by the solution of practical dilemmas and by the consumption needed.

The project had the explicit purpose of selling the pieces of clothing separately, democratizing its consumption. In this way, the exhibition space functioned as a kind of boutique, with display hangers and appropriate shelves. The furniture was made up of modular pieces reinterpreting the aesthetics of the 60s. The clothing was made in three different sizes for each design, (S, M, L) to make a total of 90 pieces.

Besides this installation set, the show included a collection catalogue, containing the sketches I made for the clothing designs, as well as the images of the original certificates conferred to my grandmother.