¡HACIA DÓNDE! (How Much Farther!)

1992. Pencil on paper. 16×18 cm.

The prisoner of an aged body whose spine has become decalcified and weak. Her head, attached to a rigid torso, slumps downward. In profile she resembles a vertical coffin.

Her flat nose: that of a skull.

Her mouth: tensely closed, out of suffering and anger. She fiercely disagrees with the course of events but does not know how to defend herself: her physical condition imposes its own law and her thinking has no power to change anything. Although very old, she remains completely conscious of the trap that encloses her. She curses it silently.

Helpless in the grip of nature, she finds herself in the same situation, essentially, as that of any human being at any age; the human predicament is just more obvious to her than it is to others.

“I am forced to contemplate where I will go soon: into the earth. I cannot escape staring all the time in a single direction.

“I am afraid. I am indignant. Is this life? To end up ensnared? I have some strength left. I try to rebel somewhat: I keep myself decent, my hair tidy under a transparent net. I still have a sense of the future. But for how long?

“In spite of myself, I mull over many memories. I am already something of the past, as if I were very far away.

“I have nothing more to say: I know what lies ahead.”