Jesús Otero-Yglesias’s project revolves around the fourteen plain wooden crosses that adorn the walls of Santa María de Gondar, symbolizing the stations of the cross. He invites us to follow the path laid out in Holland’s theory about the humble but significant gesture of tracing a cross. Beyond this gesture’s well-known historical and spiritual meaning, it is the simplest way of organizing space and finding one’s place in it.
The project includes a collection of several dozen pieces made by the artist, along with crosses he has invited locals, artisans, pilgrims and other visitors to make. This large collection of small (<30 cm in either dimension) cross-shaped forms cannot include purchased objects, but instead must be made with seemingly purposeless materials drawn from everyday life.
With these pieces he has covered the inner and lateral walls of the nave, the two walls of the baptistry, and the nave’s wooden rafters. Several star-shaped pieces have likewise been placed on the wooden ceiling of the sacristy. They are distributed randomly, leaving empty spaces with nails ready to hang pieces made by other participants.