Putting the Body: Valerie Reding and the Transmutation of the Symbol in Mexico

Valerie Reding’s residency at lagos | estudios y residencias did not begin within the aseptic walls of the studio, but rather on the asphalt and through the vital flow of Mexico City. At the start of her stay, the artist grasped a fundamental truth for her practice: a research project centered on the body as territory cannot be conducted from the isolation of the "white cube." For Valerie, a residency whose core is corporeality demanded "putting the body" -poner el cuerpo—stepping out into the streets, allowing herself to be permeated by the community, and understanding that identity is not a fixed state, but a constant process of exchange.

This approach is deeply rooted in hydrofeminism, the notion that our bodies are watery vessels connecting us to other beings, histories, and geographies. In Mexico, this porosity allowed Valerie to absorb the feminine archetypes that shape the collective psyche, finding in the Virgin of Guadalupe an inescapable starting point. Recognizing the colonial and oppressive weight this icon carries for contemporary feminisms, the artist approaches it not from a distance, but through performative lived experience.

The transformation of these symbols occurs through the mystical concept of the Nahual. While the Virgin represents the fixity of dogma and sacrifice, the Nahual embodies fluidity, the capacity for transmutation, and the blurring of boundaries between the human and the animal, the sacred and the earthly. The result of this transition is an atmospheric installation in her studio, consisting of eight photographic images* printed on translucent fabric. Suspended in space, these pieces interact with light and movement, suggesting that identity—like the fabric itself—is a vaporous layer in constant transformation.

The installation is completed by a dialogue of scales: the large-format photographs coexist with the "props" or objects Valerie constructed for her actions, alongside a series of small-format prints. The latter record the oppressive symbols, colonial history, and marks of popular culture that the artist gathered during her explorations. Here, the body is not merely a subject but a receptacle of experience, processing both the violence and the beauty of an environment that is foreign yet profoundly stirring.

What we witness in Valerie Reding’s work is the beginning of an emancipation of the gaze. By honestly confronting her own Eurocentric mindset, the artist uses the icon of the Virgin not as an end, but as a threshold. This exercise in introspection and openness marks the start of a deeper relationship with Mexico—an invitation for her journey to continue navigating the complexities of this culture, no longer as an observer, but as a body that has been irrevocably transformed by the territory. 

olgaMargarita dávila
Chief curator

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