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Aixa Goalkeeper

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Malaga, 1975. The artist toured the most secret corners of the Alhambra to illustrate the book on the Nasrid monument that has just been published by the Tinta Blanca publishing house.

She exhibits in half the world and is the daughter of the prosecutor assassinated by ETA in Granada.

Next October 9 marks the 22nd anniversary of her death.

Calling herself Aixa, after the mother of Boabdil, the last sultan of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, she inevitably had to link up with the Alhambra. It seems so.

When I was commissioned for this job, I asked the editor if it was by my name.

[Laughs]. He illustrates the book on the monumental complex, written by Manuel Mateo Pérez.

Is it another 'victim' of the "poison of the Alhambra" that is described in the work? If I am a victim of the poison of the Alhambra it is a privilege because I have been able to paint alone in rooms of the monument that have been opened for me expressly so that I could transfer them to paper.

Blessed poison! Painters like Matisse and Sorolla, the composer Manuel de Falla and the writer Juan Ramón Jiménez are captivated by the Alhambra. Yes.

In fact, when they propose this assignment to me, it imposes an outrage on me.

Just thinking about what kind of artists had made the Alhambra known, for me, came to block me.

Then I thought 'this has to be done from humility', like one more brushstroke.

I never tried to compare myself to anyone. Juan Ramón Jiménez sums it all up like this: «Then we will go to Granada every autumn to die a little». It is one of the most beautiful phrases that could have been said about the Alhambra. What will happen when the traveler enters the Alhambra with the book that you illustrate? An exciting trip awaits him, for sure.

He is going to immerse himself in the Alhambra in a different way.

The Tinta Blanca publishing house, which edits the most beautiful books published in Spain, offers the travel experience;

it is not a travel guide.

For me, it has been an honor to work with them.

I wanted to go through secret passageways, see the cisterns, see the towers...

I have tried to convey the magic, the mystery and everything that those walls are silent and have seen over the years.

The experience is intoxicating, intense and poignant, but at the same time it is poetry.

Working with Manuel Mateo Pérez has been wonderful because he is a great writer.

His lyrics flowed with my work. As an artist, he claims the book and the words.

Yes, the book as part of my work.

I also use the root a lot, the concept of the tree and the feathers.

I work the culture of peace and sustainability through art.

It is important that, in the society in which we live, this contact with reading and the book is not lost.

The virtual is very good, but we must not lose contact with the paper.

So, isn't a picture worth a thousand words?

It depends on what thousand words and it depends on what image.

It's like if you ask me do you prefer red or white wine?

Depends.

What artist is Aixa Portero? Well, she's a bit versatile because I do everything.

Sometimes I go into my cave to work and disappear.

I try to touch the sky, but I am also one to touch the earth and look for the roots.

I turn the tree upside down and make the roots aerial. He had exhibitions in Costa Rica, Colombia, Lithuania, Belarus, the United States, Qatar, Cuba, Holland, Belgium... In some places it has been more fruitful than in others.

I stay with the experience.

At times, it has been hard and complex, but it is satisfying because it is being a world traveler.

I love crossing borders and continuing to discover things because, after all, life is continuous learning.

He has been trained in Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, the United States...

Is it essential that it be like this for today's artists? Essential, no, but it is recommended.

More for the personal experience of the challenge of having to express yourself in another culture and in another language.

It is something that makes you grow because of the difficulty that it supposes and entails. You teach at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Granada, how do you see the new generations of artists? it has its times.

Young people come with a very digital culture.

They are among the most educated generations in history because they have spectacular access to information.

If they want to investigate, they are wonderful because they have a lot of information and they grow fast. Should art stir consciences or not?

The art has to be authentic.

The important thing is the involvement of the artist with his work.

Later,

the result will be better or worse, but if you give it your all, you can stay calm.

For me, a work in which the author is devoted with all his soul to a more formal investigation of chromaticisms, forms and compositions is just as magnificent as another in which the artist wants to awaken consciences.

As in all spheres of knowledge, each one has to contribute from their own plot.

We have to add and not everyone has to do the same.

Can you give an example? With Van Gogh's painting 'The Starry Night', for example, you stand in front of it and it catches you.

Does Van Gogh need to awaken consciences with that painting?

It gets you!

That painting is capable of capturing a minute or two of your life -if it is a masterpiece it can capture you longer- in this society in which we live bombarded by all kinds of stimuli is already an achievement.

That art that makes you stand in front of it, for me, already has something, it has already generated a dialogue with the person who is looking at it;

That is already the beginning of something interesting.

Changing the subject, very shortly, on October 9, it will be the twenty-second anniversary of the death of his father, prosecutor Luis Portero, assassinated by ETA.

Does time heal wounds? It costs a lot, but you learn to live with it.

The key is in the response we gave when my father was murdered and we donated his organs.

In the face of death, we gave life.

We created the Luis Portero Foundation that promotes human rights and organ donation.

It is the key to overcoming something so terrible.

We cannot change the facts, but we can reinterpret them.

From within, we have to fight, not only on an internal level, to give the best of ourselves, be resilient and, obviously, ask for justice.

I have been working a lot on the culture of peace through art for a very long time. Was justice done to your father? There will never be enough justice for the loss of a person.

In our case, there was trial and we are fortunate in that sense.

My brother Daniel continues to fight for fair and dignified trials for all those victims of terrorism who have not yet had them.

There are many such victims.

But justice?

What is justice? How do you assess that the Government has recently transferred several ETA members to Basque prisons,

among them the murderer of his father Igor Solana? This transfer of the Government of the ETA prisoners to the Basque Country is a covert amnesty.

Once the powers in penitentiary matters have been transferred, we know that there are no beds in the second-grade modules and they will go on to third grade, with the freedoms that this entails.

In some way, I see it as paying the political price for the support that [the Government] has from its partners, from Bildu, to carry out the general budgets.

I see it as a humiliation.

In addition, Marlaska has not complied with what he said because the prison regulations require that, for the approach of these prisoners, they ask for forgiveness and repent;

and that, as far as I know, has not happened nor have I seen it.

He is a victim of ETA and, at the same time, defends the culture of non-violence.

I opted for the culture of peace when what happened to my father.

I have been involved in everything that responds to violence with 'non-violence'.

From education there is a long way to go, more than with politics.

I participate in conferences of international organizations.

At the beginning of October, I have a presentation at Utah Valley University, where the first international academic conference on the Sustainable Development Goals is going to be held, which is organized by the UN.

Through education and peace, we have to make a sustainable world;

that's my bet.

And, through art, I try to transfer my convictions, my principles and my commitment to all of this.

It's my little grain of sand.

From education there is a long way to go, more than with politics.

I participate in conferences of international organizations.

At the beginning of October, I have a presentation at Utah Valley University, where the first international academic conference on the Sustainable Development Goals is going to be held, which is organized by the UN.

Through education and peace, we have to make a sustainable world;

that's my bet.

And, through art, I try to transfer my convictions, my principles and my commitment to all of this.

It's my little grain of sand.

From education there is a long way to go, more than with politics.

I participate in conferences of international organizations.

At the beginning of October, I have a presentation at Utah Valley University, where the first international academic conference on the Sustainable Development Goals is going to be held, which is organized by the UN.

Through education and peace, we have to make a sustainable world;

that's my bet.

And, through art, I try to transfer my convictions, my principles and my commitment to all of this.

It's my little grain of sand.

where the first international academic conference on the Sustainable Development Goals will be held, which is organized by the UN.

Through education and peace, we have to make a sustainable world;

that's my bet.

And, through art, I try to transfer my convictions, my principles and my commitment to all of this.

It's my little grain of sand.

where the first international academic conference on the Sustainable Development Goals will be held, which is organized by the UN.

Through education and peace, we have to make a sustainable world;

that's my bet.

And, through art, I try to transfer my convictions, my principles and my commitment to all of this.

It's my little grain of sand.

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  • Final Interview

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