First ever "gigantes" couple in Catalonia, the result of a TFG at the UAB
UAB master's degree student David Caelles Fernández has designed and built the first giantesses couple in Catalonia - which were presented on Saturday 11 November in Solsona - to show people and groups normally excluded from popular culture and the world of gegants. The project received recognition from the UAB Observatory for Equality as one of the best final projects with a gender perspective in the bachelor's degree in Humanities, in the latest call for the award.
03/11/2023
David Caelles' project, which has won him an award by the UAB Observatory for Equality as one of the best final projects with a gender perspective in the latest edition of the call for awards, combines a research project with social intervention and calls for a social transformation in favour of an inclusive and anti-racist culture which takes into account social diversity beyond what is considered dual and binary.
David Caelles Fernández, who has designed and built the two female giants, gegantes in Catalan, during these past few months, says that with this pair of giants he wants to "generate references of giants beyond the patriarchal, heterosexual and cisgender nature".
Through the gigantes, Caelles wants people and groups normally excluded from popular culture and giants, such as women or people of non-binary gender, to feel involved. "The cultural project wants to encourage reflection and highlight the discriminations that are socially normalised from prejudices, stereotypes and clichés," he explains.
The presentation of the two gigantes took place on Saturday 11 November at the Regional Theatre of Solsona, and included a play based on the results of David Caelles' research. The presentation formed part of the 11th edition of FuraFolk, which took place on the same day in the capital of Solsonès region.
What do the two figures look like?
They are two figures that shun compulsory heterosexuality, representing a couple, although their creator specifies that this does not determine the sexual orientation of the giants nor does it determine their gender identity. In both cases they represent contemporary characters, which is reflected both in the sculpture itself and in their costumes.
On 11 November the giantesses were unveiled to show exactly what they looked like, since no image of them had been made public until then. "The sculptural part has been designed and built taking into account the hairstyle, the construction of the body, the facial and body expression, the objects they carry and the clothing to show people and groups normally excluded from popular culture", details the creator of the first couple of gigantes that Catalonia now has.
This information is related to the following SDG
Reduced inequalities
Gender equality
Quality education