Tudela's embrace of the victims of terrorism (2021)

Author: Jesús Pérez Marín Bóregan (Cintruénigo, 1951).
Promoter/financing: Government of Navarra and Tudela City Council.
Inauguration/installation: September 4, 2021.
Location: Paseo del Queiles.

On September 4, 2021, Tudela inaugurated on the Paseo del Queiles the graduate monumentEl Abrazo, the work of Jesús Pérez Marín, artistically known as Bóregan. The sculpture stands as a tribute to the victims of terrorism, especially of the terrorist group ETA, and seeks to convey a message of report, dignity and justice. The unveiling ceremony was attended by political authorities, representatives of the State Security Forces and Corps and relatives of the victims of terrorism, which reinforces the institutional and social nature of the gesture: at a time when the report terrorism is still painful, Tudela is committed to a work that symbolizes unity, solidarity and respect.

Bóregan is a versatile sculptor, whose career is characterized by a transition from figuration to an essentialist stylization, in which curved lines and the expressive use of emptiness predominate. Trained in local workshops and with a self-taught career, he has worked with very diverse materials -stone, iron, bronze, alabaster-, with a special attention to the interaction between forms and spaces. His public works, distributed throughout Navarre, usually explore themes such as maternity, family and community, always from a synthesis between the figurative and the abstract.

The sculptural work, with a height of more than two meters, rises on a pedestal and is integrated into the urban promenade of the Queiles as a visible and close reminder. Executed in artificial stone, it represents three figures, a mother and two sons, walking together in an embrace, holding each other so as not to lose heart. The gesture is simple, but deeply expressive: the embrace as a universal symbol of support, comfort and unity. The choice of the family as a motif is not accidental, because in the field of terrorism, suffering is experienced in the first person, but it also affects the family nucleus and the whole community. The sculptor manages, with a compact composition, to convey both pain and vulnerability as well as resistance and strength. The stylization of the forms and the opening of hollows avoids excessive realism and places the work in a symbolic terrain. The use of curved lines and a compact Issue reinforces the idea of cohesion, while the absence of anecdotal details opens the interpretation to all viewers, not referring to a specific case but to the universality of the victims. On the pedestal remains the registration: "'The embrace of Tudela' to the victims of the terrorist group ETA and of terrorism. Truth. report. Dignity. Dignity. Justice. Tudela City Council 2021". With a monument that has become a collective symbol, Tudela offers a space of report that not only honors the victims, but also invites the whole community to keep alive the commitment to justice and coexistence.