Olga Olivera-Tabeni
Based on judicial processes from the end of the Middle Ages, referring to women who were executed by witches and poisoners on the plains of Lleida, an attempt to inventory or approximate these events is proposed. The memorial of a genocide that history has not told enough of, as the philosopher Silvia Federici tells us, and that we must give it visibility. Unfortunately we have linked it to folklorism, and the mythification of the witch. The fieldwork carried out at the same time leads us to the discovery that the mentioned places, those that had been inhabited by witches, meeting places, covens ... Today they are mostly terrain vagues, that is to say, wastelands, deserts, voids. Here the comparison is evident, of the rebellious woman, in the nonconformist soil, separated or possibility, alternative model to the capitalist productive system.
It surprises us how the disobedient souls of these women still breathe among the landscapes, the fields and fragmented lines, on the margins, hills and "weeds".
Between today's wastelands and the spaces where the witches used to hold their meetings with the goat, there is only one step. From non-conformity to non-conformity, from revolt to revolt.
Inventory attempt. Photographs, maps, artist's book, textile piece and installation of a video projection on the floor. With the collaboration of the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs de Lleida. 2018-19.
To you…
Antònia Balaguera from Sas (Cornudella de Baliera) and Torrefarrera. 1550.
Joana Molinera from Molins (Cornudella de Baliera). 1549.
Margarita from la Plana de Ribera de la Vall (Cornudella de Baliera). 1549.
Antònia Puig del Ros from the Puianrós farm, in Mont de Roda. 1512.
Grahullana from Quaxigar. 1511.
Domenja de la Serrulla, alias Garí from Quaxigar. 1511.
Magdalena Semeli from Sant Esteve del Mall. 1511-12.
Mother of Magdalena and Pere Semeli from Sant Esteve del Mall. 1511-12.
Chiteria. Llussàs. 1512.
Valentina Guarner from Sas. 1484-85.
Maria de Fierro from Sas. 1484-85.
Hope Gojona from Lleida. 1598.
Francina Redorta from Menàrguens. 1616.
Widow of Christian Nadal from Albesa. 1616.
Widow of Houses from Albesa. 1616.
Grana from the Castle of Menàrguens. 1616.
Thomassa Roig from the Houses of Corbins. 1627.
Doubts from the houses of Corbins. 1627.
Caterina Borjada from Lleida. 1627.
Isabel Soriguera, alias Vinagre, from Lleida. 1627.
Philippa Gavassa from Vilanova de l'Horta. 1627.
Speransa Garriga, Luques or Luquets, from Lleida. 1627.
Margarita Aleixara, said Sarabanda, from Lleida. 1627.
Mariona Coreta from Lleida. 1627.
Isabel Joana Comes, from Lleida. 1627.
Speransa Bagana, from Lleida. 1627.
Maria alias the witch of Sant Bertrà de Viladós (France) and Montagut (Alcarràs). 1604.
Na sweet from Alguaire. 1389.
Maria from Ager. 1368.
Joana Gotarda from Àger. 1593.
Na Ginera from Lleida. 1399.
Sancha de Canals from Lleida. 1453.
Joana Rosella of Bellcaire. 1547.
Dolceta from Lleida. 1368.
Francesca from Lleida. 1368.
Caterina, alias daughter of King Don Pedro, of Lleida. 1395.
Caterina Sanchiz from Lleida. 1398.
Maria Artera from Tàrrega or Bellpuig. 1617.
Joana Domingo. Rigola (Àger). 1627.
Alicsen or Aleigsen from Artesa from Lleida. 1368.
English, na Borredana. 1389.
A woman from Balaguer.
Three women from Bellpuig.
Two women from Torregrossa.
Nine women from Castellón de Farfanya.
Two women from Montclar d'Urgell.
... And so many that I was able to leave or that his faded memory was lost in my memory.