7 6 UMBRA 38-39 2004, linen, gesso, gold-leaf; 81x81 cm each, artist´s collection. For the last 25 years I have worked with seven lives, fourteen hands, seven women who infuse each small element with Colombia´s vitality. The communal process impregnates each bundle of strands with the spirit of each of these women’s lives; each element acquires a unique patina, as does the knob on the door to a frequented room. These layers of work and time finally affect the surface quality. It is difficult to explain what happens in that space. The time, the changes, the choices, the pace of the work, the silence or music, the personal stories…This team of weavers, this place, is my strongest and deepest connection with my country. To me they embody Colombia. With them I manage to make quantities of these elaborate threads and long lines of material which I call strands, strips or chords. 1