‘Alicia’ in Seville, Spain
The first thing that catches our eye upon visiting the Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art, located in the former La Cartuja Monastery in Seville, is a giant sculpture that appears trapped inside a house. It is 'Alice,' the famous character from Lewis Carroll, here recalling the passage in which the protagonist grows until seh surpasses the size of the house that accomodates her.
'Alicia' is a work by the Andalusian artist Cristina Lucas, created in 2009 for Córdoba's nomination to become European Capital of Culture in 2016. The sculpture was initially installed in a well-known courtyard in Córdoba. Later, in 2013, it was moved to its current location in Seville.
The piece depicts an enormous female figure who seems trapped inside a house, with her face and right arm peeking out of the windows. It represents the passage described in "Alice in Wonderland" in which the girl grows to an enormous size after discovers and eats a cake labelled "Eat me."
The artist's aim is to use these colossal dimensions to fill the space and evoke the physical force of the metaphor described by Lewis Carroll in the famous book, bringing the book's unsettling fantasy into the real world, alluding to the confinement that many women, especially in Andalusia, have suffered throughout history, trapped within the confines of their homes.
