The History of a Hug

This sculpture of a hybrid humanoid figure with a white raven head, immaculately dressed in a white suit and white lace shoes, was part of Petrit Halilaj’s immersive installation To　a raven and the hurricanes that from unknown places bring back smells of humans in love　(2020). An artificial garden arranged inside the Crystal Palace (a venue of the Reina Sofía Museum, located at the heart of Madrid’s Retiro Park), the installation was conceived as the ideal setting for Halilaj to marry his partner and sometime artistic collaborator, Álvaro Urbano. Halilaj transformed the Crystal Palace into a giant birds’ nest, inspired by the courtship ritual of bowerbirds, which make elaborate structures decorated with colorful objects to attract a mate. To decorate the nest, Halilaj conjured some of the flowers that he and Urbano had exchanged over the years, which were produced collaboratively by the couple to celebrate their union.

With its large scale, the white raven rendered the floral environment unfamiliar. It also specifically alluded to Halilaj’s family history through the wooden log, the object that the artist’s grandfather was holding when he learned his wife had given birth to their first child. Unable to express his immense joy in public, since this might have been interpreted as a sign of weakness in a patriarchal society, he hugged the log so hard that he thought it might break.

Halilaj and Urbano’s collaborative practice is often autobiographical in nature, exploring personal experiences, queer identity, and concepts of home. Their sculptural installations become stage sets that invite visitors to participate. As Halilaj once said, they "give us an opportunity to try to alter the course of personal and collective histories. They create complex worlds that claim space for freedom, desire, intimacy, and identity."[1]

[1] The artist quoted in David Breslin and Iria Candela, The Roof Garden Commission: Petrit Halilaj. Abetare. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2024, p. 28.