The devil room

The inspiration for this project comes from one of the paintings by Francisco Goya towards the end of his life: a mural that adorned the walls of his house and is part of the famous "Black Paintings." This particular painting is called "Aquelarre" (Witch's Sabbath) and depicts a group of witches gathered in a meadow, accompanied by the silhouette of a goat standing upright as if it were a human being. It is a rough and dirty work, loaded with expressiveness, fear, pain, and a mysticism that makes it hypnotic. Imbued with a fantasy inherent to the spiritual and a sense of death.

I decided to find an equivalent and tell a story similar to that portrayed in this artwork, creating a fantastical world full of apparitions and demons. From this point, the story of my project emerges, whose name comes from the Spanish translation of "Aquelarre," which was the meadow of the male goat. I changed the meadow to a room, as this would be the setting where the story I wanted to tell would unfold.

I began working on the idea for this project with the intention of capturing an aesthetic similar to that of engravings or Goya's caprices, with a dark black and white image with a yellowish tone, as if it were an ancient book narrating a hidden and forbidden story. With this vision in mind, all I needed was to develop the story I wanted to tell. However, I did not want to simply write a fantasy; I wanted to create something personal. I learned this by observing painters like Goya, who depicted their lives, surroundings, and the culture of their time, imbuing it with a supernatural dimension.

The works of Goya and other Spanish painters resonated with me in a special way due to their cultural, religious, and supernatural context. I grew up in Colombia, in a very religious home, where demons, spirits, and hell were considered palpable realities that were part of my everyday life. These beliefs haunted me with constant nightmares about the rapture and the devil. My grandfather, the man who raised me like a son, unfortunately suffered a terrible lung disease that led to an agonizing and painful death. This was my first close experience with death and one of the moments that marked my life.

After his departure, I used to have almost lucid dreams where I could see him lying in his bed, struggling to breathe. I could also see a group of unknown people standing around him and walking through the room. All of this terrified me, but over time, I have found a certain nostalgia in those moments. That's why I wanted the story I was going to tell to revolve around my grandfather's death, his suffering, and that constant nightmare I used to have at that time, with an abstract and surreal world that I couldn't understand, which was hostile and lonely.