LA MUDA, de Marina Guiu Almenara

LA MUDA. A HOLE BETWEEN THE STERNUM AND THE NAVEL

(*) Note on the translation. I preferred to preserve the original name of the project LA MUDA in Spanish during the entire website, the main reason is it works as the name for the main character. It would be translated as The Silenced One.

Interdisciplinary documentary art project about child sexual assault and sexual violence.
Created by Marina Guiu Almenara.
In process and distribution 2026.

Funded by Instituto de Mujeres - Ministerio de Igualdad del Gobierno de España
With the support of Fundación Vicki Bernadet, Can Felipa, Nau Ivanow, Teatre de l'Escorxador, Antic Teatre, Casa Elizalde, Sala Fènix, Carla Vall Duran, Dones a Escena, Nou Cercle, Albert Llimós and Violeta Assiego Cruz.

THE PROJECT

It's a scream and a vomit, it's a pain in the chest. It's an interdisciplinary documentary art project about child sexual assault, the lack of legitimacy of oneself as a survivor of sexual violence, and the impossibility of be in calm as a woman in a patriarchal system. It's also a space for tenderness and healing, for oneself and for others, as a form of resistance and fight.

LA MUDA was born so that no one would read me. It was born to dominate what had happened, and prevent it from dominating me, to control the narrative. Writing made it real.
It is text, plastic art and document as a space of healing through re-signifying places, facts, body, and narrative. It is a report of a childhood sexual assault transformed into literature, tale, painting, theater, and testimony. It’s the fragmentation of the body and the smell of gasoline that sticks it back together. It’s an intimate diary and at the same time, a documentary narrative, a puzzle whose pieces I found myself putting together together, playing with repetition, distortion, and fragmentation.

photos by Júlia Latorre Barcala

Vulnerability is intrinsic to existence, it is not arbitrary or limited. It is something universal and passes through all of us without distinctions. So it is violence. We are exposed to it from a very young age, going from being vulnerable beings, to being made vulnerable. To talk about one is talk about everyone else. The vulnerability of one is the vulnerability of all. The aggression of a body could be anyone else’s. From the personal to the collective. From the most private to the most public. Wounds are collective because violence is structural. Because it’s something political. As feminist activist and journalist Carol Hanisch defends, “The personal is political” (1969).

Following this conceptual structure, the project is composed of three parts, moving from the most intimate to the most collective:

la PAR T A, the pictorial and literary work, the embryo of the whole project;
la PAR T B, the performative work, the documentary theater, the private becomes public, closely influenced by the visual work, and at the same time feeds the last part;
la PAR T C, the testimonial work, a compilation of voices and experiences, a mural space for denounce and a safe space for sexual violence victims.

This last part closes the overall project and blurs the individual figure (Marina) to become a collective voice (the testimonies).

CONTEXT

1 in 5 minors suffer childhood sexual abuse before the age of 17.
1 in 5.
In Spain and in other countries of the European Union, the United States and Canada, estimate that 23-25% of girls and 10-15% of boys.
Between 80% and 85% of these abuses occur within an environment of trust, figures who exercise a position of power over the minor: family members, educators, teachers, monitors, etc.
Of this percentage, between 65% and 70% are cases within the family.
Only 10% of these minors will ask for help when they are being abused.
60% will never receive any kind of help.
None.

We are facing an extremely high percentage of the population: 20% of boys and girls have been sexually assaulted. “If they were victims of some disease, we would be talking about a pandemic”, Vicki Bernadet, president of the foundation for prevention and awareness of childhood abuse, always says. It is a public health issue, yet we do not address it as such. The consequences in adult life are devastating, and not facing it on time gives rise to a sick population, constantly attacked and without the ability to take care of themselves, falling over and over again into situations of mistreatment and sexual and power abuse.

I truly believe in the vital need to address it through artistic practices. I understand arts and culture as a political and social tool, for promoting change and developing a critical perspective on sexual violence, with clear objectives: raise awareness and break the taboo that surrounds this universal issue; create a safe and supportive space for adults and young people in order to protect minors and, consequently, the adults that we will be.

PICTORIAL PART - ITINERARY TO DATE

2019 / Studio La Madriguera, Barcelona. Project in residence
2021 / Pintar contra l'abús sexual infantil, Report by Mireia Prats i Riera and Anna Bonet Martínez, for TV3
2022 / Taller de grabado La Madriguera, Barcelona. Project in residence
2025 / Taller de grabado La Madriguera, Barcelona. Project in residence
2025 / Fish Factory, Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland. Project in residence
2025 / NES ARTIST Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland. Project in residence
2025 / Escribir desde lo escénico, Umbrales Narrativos, a podcast by Editorial Consonni, with Elisa Coll
2026 / Studio La Madriguera, Barcelona. Project in residence

PERFORMATIVE + TESTIMONIAL PARTS - ITINERARY TO DATE

2022, October / Nau Ivanow y Festival Fabià Puigserver, Alt Empordà (Girona)
2022 - 23 / Can Felipa, Barcelona. Project in residence
2023, 21 April / Can Felipa, Barcelona.
2023, 4 - 22 October / Sala Fènix, Barcelona (PART B + C)
2023, 24 November / Can Felipa, Barcelona
2024, 11 y 12 January / Teatre de l'Escorxador, Lleida
2024, 10 March / Lo Sindicat, Flix, Lleida
2024, 4 - 7 April / Antic Teatre, Barcelona (PART B + C)
2024, 9 - 23 November / Barcelona Districte Cultural (PART B + C)
2024, 25 November / Sant Quirze del Vallés
2025, 7 y 8 March / Teatro del Barrio, Madrid (PART B + C)
2025, 28 y 29 November / Teatro del Barrio, Madrid (PART B + C)
2026, 30 April / Casa Elizalde, Barcelona (PART B + C)

THE TALKS

With the aim of ensuring that this project also serves as a tool and space for care, prevention and awareness-raising, the performances and visits have been accompanied by talks addressing sexual abuse in childhood, as well as sexual violence, which are closely interconnected. To support this work, alongside the project’s artistic team, we have the support of several professionals with expertise in gender-based violence, children’s and women’s rights, and the performing arts:

- Vicki Bernadet Rius, President of the Vicki Bernadet Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the comprehensive support, prevention and awareness-raising around child sexual abuse.
- Violeta Assiego Cruz, activist, lawyer and specialist in children’s and women’s rights.
- Carla Vall Duran, criminal lawyer specialising in gender-based, sexual and vicarious violence.
- Dones a Escena, association and space for debate, reflection and action bringing together women working in the performing arts in Lleida.
- Nou Cercle, space dedicated to support, accompaniment and the prevention of child sexual abuse.
- Albert Llimós, journalist, writer and manager of investigation specialized in sexual violence at the newspaper ARA.

Talks already done to date: