The Abyss of Memory: Rocío Durán and the Awakening of the Creative Impulse

Rocío Durán’s residency at Lagos | estudios y residencias marks a turning point in her trajectory: a courageous transition from conceptual and technical formalization toward a deeper exploration of personal expression. Prior to this process, Rocío’s practice was characterized by a meticulous act of translation; she would take news and impressions from the external world and illustrate them through organic forms and harmonious color palettes. However, this month in Lagos was not an extension of that methodology, but rather an immersion into the vastness of herself in order to dismantle her own conception of art.

At the beginning of this period, a decisive question emerged: what is the true impulse behind transforming events into forms? The answer gradually revealed itself, layer by layer. What once seemed to be a graphic chronicle of news turned out to be a profound exercise in memory—an attempt not to forget the minutes and events that shape our journey on Earth. By following that thread, Rocío reconnected with her own childhood, transforming the narrative of isolated moments into a formalization through objects that act as containers of history.

This process of introspection allowed the artist to identify a structure that had, until then, conditioned her gaze: the “ought to be.” This layer of external expectations and self-criticism at the surface limits her expression. During this residency, Rocío has had the courage to break that modern shell and begin a contemporary methodology, where process and emotional honesty carry as much weight as the aesthetic result.

In her new drawings on paper and her paintings, Rocío has sought a direct connection with her creative source, deliberately striving to remain distant from the self-devaluation that often hinders artistic exploration. By allowing herself to experiment beyond the margins of pre-established harmony, she has discovered a space of liberation. Her current pieces are no longer merely translations of the external, but records of a gaze that has turned inward and toward her surroundings with a renewed vision.

What Rocío shares with us at the close of this residency is not only a body of work, but the foundation of her new identity as a visual artist. It is an anchor point from which her next steps will be guided by authenticity and the freedom of a voice that has finally chosen to listen to itself.

Olga Margarita Dávila

Chief Curator

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