ALBARKAS

Public Performance, Workshop and Artist Talk by Verónica Peña.

Wellington, New Zealand Funded by Public Art Fund Wellington.

“Faced with the approaching steps of the inevitable, I felt the impulse of taking with me the little pair of albarkas my hands had saved for so many years. What do we carry with us? What is so important as to drag it against the asphalt beyond the sea, time, and distance? What impractical objects are close to your chest at home, or echoing the past in your migrating suitcase?”

For her durational performance ALBARKAS, Verónica Peña will wander through the streets of Wellington, embraced by the fragrance of memory. She will carry—and be carried by—a large, foreign object inspired by a traditional albarka, footwear originally made of calf-leather from the Basque Country (Spain), where the artist spent her childhood with her grandparents.

Motivated by the uncontrollable nature of change, this performance challenges the familiar of the everyday. It reveals a body caught between the fortune and pain of existence—moving and pausing, filled yet empty, grounded yet trapped, collective yet solitary. Through her journey, the artist’s numbness dismantles, leaving behind traces of emotion, care, and liberation.

Albarkas invites spectators to reflect on the deeper layers of their own lives, questioning what is remembered, what is forgotten, and what is carried forward.

All photographs by Ted Whitaker.