Verdadero es lo hecho: Ex votos and contemporary jewellery

Throughout history and in different cultures, devotees have offered their gods the material representation of some grace received. Ex-votos made of metal used to be popular in Argentina. Arms, hands, livers, lungs and tongues, even full bodies, were put on the saints’ clothes or left at church altars. They were carried back and forth, put into pockets; they traveled long ways from the artisan’s home to the church that housed the saint that had granted the favor. This catalog for the exhibition Verdadero es lo hecho: Ex votos and contemporary jewellery—displayed in Buenos Aires August 31–November 28, 2019, and curated by Jimena Rios—is in both Spanish and English. The exhibit featured the work of of 35 international contemporary jewelers, among them Iris Eichenberg, Jorge Manilla, Walka, Caroline Broadhead, Helen Britton, Monika Brugger, Mielle Harvey, Hanna Hedman, Manon Van Kouswijk, Tereza Seabra, Eija Mustonen, Lucy Sarneel, Marta Costa Reis, Rodrigo Acosta Arias, Célio Braga, and Shinji Nakaba. The catalog also includes an essay by Rebekah Frank.