Luto

Luto draws on the writings of Federico García Lorca to examine mourning as a technology of social control. Taking The House of Bernarda Alba, written shortly before his assassination and published posthumously, as its point of departure, the work traces how prescribed grief regulates gender, desire, and behaviour.

By bringing mourning into the public sphere, the installation redefines it as a performative and political condition rather than a private expression of loss. Black clothing operates as a social code that disciplines bodies, structures visibility, and transforms obedience into ritual.

The performance takes place near the site of Lorca’s assassination. There, Abril suspends black garments within the landscape, displacing mourning from the domestic interior into public space. The gesture reconnects the play with the historical violence surrounding its writing while expanding its politics beyond the regulation of women to encompass other dissident bodies.

Comprising a live performance, a photograph, and a single-channel video, the project unfolds through three distinct works. Each medium activates a different relationship between body, voice, landscape, and memory, allowing mourning to emerge not as a representation of grief but as a political structure that continues to shape the present.

The Art Hub Collective commissioned the project, and it was shown at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello in Venice during the opening week of the 2026 Biennale.