Text and photos: Juan David Latorre
Yesterday Thursday, the Embassy of Honduras inaugurated in the Anselma Room of the Ateneo de Madrid the exhibition Hondura del alma, a journey to our interior, by the Honduran artist Patricia Nieto, born in the town of Ojojona. The collection will be on display until next Tuesday, August 26.
With the opening of this exhibition, this painter became the first Honduran woman to exhibit her work at the emblematic Ateneo de Madrid, an institution that is a reference in Spanish cultural and intellectual life.
From an early age, Patricia Nieto showed a unique talent for art, being trained by master Sergio Almendrales. Graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Honduras and later continued his education at the prestigious Art Academy in Florence, Italy. His career has been a constant journey of evolution, with exhibitions in Honduras and different autonomous communities in Spain.
His work is characterized by exploring portrait, symbolism and surrealism as languages to convey emotions and tell human stories. Critics such as Carlos Lanza have pointed out that Patricia not only portrays, but builds identities, while Antonio Calderón has highlighted her ability to connect the viewer with the emotional transposition of each work.
The event was attended by Gonzalo Vásquez, vice-president of the Ateneo de Madrid; Jorge Marinet, director for Spain of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, and the ambassador of Honduras, Marlon Brevé.
After greeting the personalities present at the inauguration and the members of the Honduran community who met at the event, the Honduran ambassador said that “What makes this exhibition even more special is that Patricia is the first Honduran woman to exhibit individually at the Ateneo de Madrid, one of the most emblematic and prestigious cultural centers in Europe. This is a source of pride for Honduras and an acknowledgement of the national artistic talent that is gaining recognition worldwide”.
“It is noteworthy to mention, continued Marlon Brevé, that Patricia Nieto follows in the footsteps of two other great Honduran artists who have managed to exhibit at this Athenaeum. Carlos Santillo, present at the event, in 2017, also resident in Madrid, and many years ago, in 1932, Pablo Zelaya Sierra, who was also born as Ojojona, as Patricia. Zelaya Sierra’s imprint on Honduran art is indelible. The National Art Prize of Honduras is named after Pablo Zelaya Sierra. And I am proud to see that Patricia continues this tradition of artistic excellence in our beloved Honduras.”
The artist Patricia Nieto also spoke, underlining: “Among the works of art that make up this exhibition, several are being exhibited for the first time and others have already travelled a path after having been exhibited in different places in Spain, such as Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Extremadura, Some of them were finalists in cultural competitions. For this occasion, being an individual exhibition in this emblematic place of Madrid, I wanted to do something special, that was beyond the intentionality with which they were created at the time and can be read on the cards. So, what I wanted to do is to pair works intuitively, trying to create a dialogue between them, beyond the one they produce all together. We live in a world where increasingly, for one reason or another, we do not connect with the one next to us.
