5 The House of My Imagination LECTURE BY OLGA DE AMARAL AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART A B R I L 2 4 , 2 0 0 3 Good evening, it is an honor for me to be here. I would like to thank Philippe de Montebello, director of the Met- ropolitan Museum of Art, David McKinney, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Emily Rafferty, Senior Vice-president of External Affairs, Jane Adlin, Assistant Curator of Modern Art; Donna Sutton and Jennifer Mock, Audience Development specialists and Emilia Cortes of Tex- tile Conservation for this opportunity to present my work. I am also deeply grateful to Bob and Charlotte Kornstein for their commitment during the last fifteen years. Thank you distinguished guests and friends. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia. Today it is a nation in conflict, where poverty and violence exist alongside heroic people and extraordinary natural beauty. Today one lives and breathes a sensation of instability and fear. Colombia was very different in my youth. Then, one could travel with relative safety throughout the country.We could go to the highlands, the hot and densely populated valleys or the vast untouched tropical plains of the llanos. One could take the train or car to any of the cities or small towns that dotted the high mountains. And even though life was difficult for many, people were hard-working, skilled and had great dignity. They Facing page: Alquimia 13, 1984. Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Previous page: House in Chinchina, Colombia. † The following numbered reproductions were projected during my lecture. The lecture concluded with the video “The house of my imagination”, which further illustrated the physical elaboration of my work as well as the differ- ent creative influences.