Paloma Polo. The Return of the gaze. The political task of narration - La Virreina Centre de la Imatge Barcelona Art Season, Exhibitions
10/18/2025 - 03/15/2026

The exhibition The Return of the gaze. The political task of narration, curated by Mabel Tapia, is being staged at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge. It deals with the power stories have to transform and construct history. Based on the work of the artist Paloma Polo (Madrid, 1983), the exhibition explores how narratives, far from being an immutable construct, are political and affective tools that open up space for reflection on which stories have been told and which have been obscured.

Polo's work delves into specific historical events, addressing hegemonic colonial-patriarchal narratives and others that have been silenced or suppressed, through long-term research involving a variety of sources. The exhibition is structured around four of the artist's key projects: The Path of Totality (2010), Dulcinea (2022), El barro de la revolución (2019) and C'est vouloir se jeter au fond du lac pour conserver sa vie (2024), an unpublished project developed in collaboration with La Virreina Centre de la Imatge.

The materials presented, many of them previously unseen, provide a unique insight into Polo's approach and the methods she uses in each project, engaging the viewer in an in-depth dialogue about history and its narratives.