Elena Jiménez. You give me your hands. Archive of Women Creators

From 22 October to 18 April, CentroCentro is putting on a sculpture and art research project that creates a sensory archive in which memory takes shape through matter and the body becomes a space for encounter. The exhibition features handprints taken from contemporary female artists and creators, cast in plaster, in a gesture that preserves lines, creases and marks, as a testament to their life journeys and creative processes.

The pieces featured in the exhibition are not presented as isolated elements, but as part of a collective whole that grows out of the sum of shared experiences, knowledge and memories. The work forms part of contemporary feminist practices linked to the recovery of historically silenced narratives and the creation of new forms of representation. In response to the absences that have shaped cultural history, Jiménez presents a constellation of presences in which each mould becomes a testament to and an affirmation of all that has been created, conceived and passed down by women.

The process dubbed Me das tus manos (You give me your hands) takes place through collaborative meetings and listening sessions in which the participants symbolically offer their hands as a gesture of trust and mutual recognition. The sculpture thus emerges from a shared experience in which creation is understood as a relational, affective and communal practice. Straddling the fragility of plaster and the permanence of the gesture, this work establishes a dialogue between body and material, transforming the imprint into a language capable of telling stories of labour, knowledge and resistance.

Elena Jiménez (Alicante, 1965) has pursued her career across various media, including drawing, photography and process-based installations involving expanded graphics. In her most recent pieces, she depicts the body and relates it to physical concepts associated with fragility, tenacity and plasticity, drawing on materials with different characteristics of strength and varying degrees of fragility, ductility, hardness and tenacity. She has recently been awarded the 2025 National Prize for Graphic Art.

Image Credits:

• Me das tus manos, 2022 © Elena Jiménez, VEGAP, Madrid, 2026