YUYAY is a series of sculptures by artist Morales Leiva, a project initiated in 2024 and currently in development, exploring memory and refuge through performative actions. In Quechua, “Yuyay” means “to think, to remember, to meditate”; these words not only evoke concepts but also concrete actions. Quechua is a performative language, where words imply action. In YUYAY, the act of twisting paper becomes a physical meditation, a process of remembering through the body and matter.

 

Inspired by the ancient Inca quipus, which used cords and knots to record data and exert control, the sculptures of YUYAY function as an alternative archive. While the quipus formalized memory for administrative purposes, YUYAY collects everyday memories, personal fragments that escape official control. It is an archive of experiences that are insignificant for state control but, when gathered, create a narrative of shared identity, both personal and collective.

 

Each piece is presented as a small wooden house, a symbol of refuge that refers to the idea of the “last possible refuge,” inspired by the Ecuadorian novel Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza, 1934. In this work, the refuge is a precarious space where exhausted bodies seek rest. Similarly, YUYAY is conceived as a place of welcome for simple materials, yet vital for subjectivity and collective memory.

 

The sculptures consist of manually twisted strips of paper, dyed with natural powder pigments. The act of twisting, performed by the artist, is a meditative and repetitive gesture that shapes the memories, infusing them with material presence. The process of twisting not only transforms the paper into string but also activates memory, both for the artist during the act of creation and for the viewer who encounters the work.

 

As viewers move through these sculptures, they are invited to explore their textures and colors, encountering tactile and visual stimuli. The sensory experience of seeing and touching the twisted, dyed, hanging strips of paper allows the viewer to connect with their own memories. The houses and their strings become activators of stories, a refuge for shared experiences, fragile and fleeting common worlds.

 

YUYAY does not aim to record precise data or control information; instead, it presents itself as a living archive of intimate and everyday memories. Through the act of twisting and the idea of refuge, Morales Leiva proposes a sculptural meditation on how seemingly insignificant memories weave a collective narrative that challenges official archives. It is a space where the personal and the collective converge, inviting the viewer to remember and find themselves in the act of meditation and exploration of the work.