Lo Que Una Vez Fue Delicado Se Convierte en Sólido (2026) examines the burial of hyperfemininity and the transformation of vulnerability through experiences of love, betrayal, and emotional self-protection. The doily, traditionally associated with domesticity, delicacy, femininity, care, and the labor of the home, serves as the foundation for this transformation.
Across the three works, the doily gradually disappears beneath layers of gruta, transforming from something soft, delicate, and recognizable into something solid, heavy, and seemingly impenetrable. In the first work, the doily remains fully exposed, preserving its intricate pattern and fragile texture. In the second, it begins to disappear as the gruta gradually surrounds and consumes its surface. By the third, the doily is almost entirely buried, leaving only its silhouette as evidence of what remains beneath.
The progression creates a physical record of softness becoming hardness. The transformation becomes a metaphor for the emotional walls we construct after experiencing hurt and betrayal. After being betrayed in love, I felt my own softness begin to disappear. Vulnerability, once associated with intimacy and connection, became something I needed to protect. Like a wall, I became harder, not because I no longer possessed softness, but because I no longer felt safe exposing it.
Gruta becomes a metaphor for this emotional hardening. It is a material capable of holding, preserving, and enduring, but it can also conceal and create distance. As the doily disappears, the work reflects my gradual withdrawal from relationships and my growing resistance to vulnerability. Yet the remaining silhouette suggests that this delicate self has not been destroyed. It continues to exist beneath the hardened surface—buried, protected, and waiting to be uncovered.
What was once delicate becomes solid, not because vulnerability no longer exists, but because it has been buried as a form of protection. Gruta becomes a metaphor for this emotional hardening: something that can hold, preserve, and withstand, but also something that creates distance. The disappearing doily reflects my own process of closing myself off from relationships and becoming less willing to be vulnerable. Yet the remaining silhouette suggests that the delicate self has not completely disappeared. It is still present beneath the surface, concealed rather than destroyed.