Weight

In Weight, 2019, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo combines vintage suitcases, fabric bags filled with sand, and religious votives, to reflect on the capacity of women to carry life’s burdens. Ramilo builds on the poetic possibilities of these found objects, using their colours, textures, and materiality to create new layers of meaning in her assemblage. Recalling journeys taken and lives transplanted to distant shores, old suitcases are filled with colourful sandbags that symbolise the many burdens that women carry for their families as well as the precious memories that shore up their day to day lives.  Pinned on the colourful fabrics are “ex-votos” or “milagros” from the artist’s own collection of religious objects. These small metal charms from Mexico, usually left by the faithful on altars, shrines, and sacred objects, were votive offerings to saints in fulfilment of a vow or in gratitude for an answered prayer. They represent the fulfilment of hopes and dreams, or perhaps gratitude for a life well-lived.