We can build new paths, and roses will grow along them, explores the symbiotic and emotional relationship between the warrior maiden, her armour and her horse through genealogies of non-conforming gender identities.
Through the juxtaposition of the manga Magical Girl and Shōjo with the revival of the virgo bellatrix from mediaeval literature, the creation draws an analogy between chivalrous fiction and queer motorcycle communities. At this crossroads, the horse and the motorcycle are identified as ‘vanishing artefacts’. The installation cuts through the historical space of La Capella through a tunnel of rose arches leading to a fantastical piece and a set of hybrid suits of armour, pieces that blur the ontological boundaries between the animal body, the human and the machine, unfolding a posthuman continuum where backbone, engine and bridle merge in an anatomy imbued with love.
Ali Arévalo, born in Salamanca in 1998, is an artist, researcher and teacher. Their practice dreams up nonbinary and interspecies futures through sculptural fictions and non-conforming mythologies. Their work has been shown individually at the Museo Da2 (Salamanca) and Can Felipa Arts Visuals (Barcelona).