Gloria Segura

GLORIA SEGURA JORDÁ, AN ARTIST OF SANTORAL

Gloria was born in Alcoy in 1979, and from a very young age she has been curious and adored by the world of the arts. While completing his Artistic and Higher Technical Baccalaureate studies in Illustration and Applied Arts at the School of Art and Higher Design of Alcoy, he also trained at the Municipal School of Fine Arts of Alcoy. She graduated in Fine Arts (UMH) in 2005 and continued her training with the Master's Degree in Cultural Studies and Visual Arts (feminist and queer perspectives) MUECA in 2022. In 2023 she began to develop doctoral research with a feminist approach around wound within the visual arts at the University of Alicante. It is part of the Col.lectiu DAMAC (Dones Artistes de la Mancomunitat Alcoi-Comtat)

His work profile is developed in photography, post-production and creation. He has exhibited pictorial and photographic work in cities such as Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Barcelona, ​​​​Valencia, Alicante, Seville, Palma, Cartagena, Madrid and has given many conferences in countries such as Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain.

A few years ago, as a student of Fine Arts at the Miguel Hernández University, she had the great creative idea of ​​illustrating a magnificent work with a teaching saint's book dedicated to all the professors at the Faculty at that time. One by one those from Casa Pam visited us!! (an artistic collective of students) to all the teachers with the vestments that could be closest to the model of saint that she considered. That set of works, delicate, subtle, daring and with an extraordinary flavor of nine and in a certain way of provocation, turned out to be a series of great intuitive talent and psychological cogitation. The last result was a magnificent formal and compositional result.

That initiation into the auric analysis of beings led him to possibly develop his great artistic exercise: “The Altarpiece of Saint Georgina”, from the fundamental positioning of the work of art, to advance, to evolve, to take risks, since every artist who considers himself must begin the path of step forward, of expressive modification; but from what place, that of intuition first to then adapt the rational analysis and the applicable theory. Where did Gloria Segura start this story? from her position as a woman (we spoke more than fifteen years ago); Today, women's demand and struggle for equality in all social spheres has increased absolutely and overwhelmingly. Back then, the scream or the claim was not so loud, which is a decisive fact to understand the efforts of this artist in her fight for recognition. The altarpiece consists of 13 photographic pieces, one in the center and six on each side, as well as an image of the saint next to them. With this work she aims to "literate the viewer" -as she says-; a function, he explains, that was fulfilled by the Gothic altarpieces, which followed the doctrines of the saints. Gloria Segura, by creating an imaginary saint, seeks to vindicate the active participation of women in the Moors and Christians festivals of Alcoy, dedicated to the patron saint Sant Jordi, supported by irony, provocation and rebound because the figure of Saint Georgina is embodied in a man, since it is the man who has always occupied that place. A revelation that is not only limited to the fight for women's equality during these holidays, but transcends all areas of community participation.

Focusing on this work, I summarize, in some way, the transgressive efforts of this Alcoyan artist. Since its origins, Gloria Segura has shown herself to be a transgressive artist, she has fully entered into most of the linguistic supports of art, she participated on numerous occasions by showing herself through performance, action, and body art that were daring, disruptive, and challenging; and of course in photography, sculpture, design until focusing on painting, but always remaining on the stark sides of the contents. A continuous work where the taste for elaboration, cleanliness and depth are registered as a sign of identity and presentation, in addition to that aforementioned side of protest effort and incitement. Without a doubt, a combative and feisty woman who never lacks a smile or bitingness. A careful artist. An unlimited world.

José Manuel Álvarez Enjuto

(In his teaching saints he dressed me as a Pope with a scepter)