The Parliament of the Canary Islands presented this Wednesday the sculpture that will represent La Graciosa in the legislative headquarters. The piece, made of basalt by the Lanzarote sculptor Paco Curbelo, incorporates as a distinctive motif the symbol of the burgado.
According to the autonomous Chamber itself, the work will be installed in the main lobby, alongside the original creation of José Abad, so that the presence of the eight islands of the Canary Archipelago in the regional Parliament is completed.
"This Parliament is the home of all Canarians. It is the first institution where the sovereignty of the Canarian people is represented, and here, in this hall that represents all the islands, we must all be, and we were not," said the president of the regional Chamber minutes before the inauguration ceremony.
The president, Astrid, defined the day as "historic" and emphasized that it is an act of "institutional justice" with La Graciosa, especially after the reform of the Statute of Autonomy of 2018, which officially recognized it as the eighth island.
"Today La Graciosa finally has its own and permanent presence in the home of all Canarians. La Graciosa is an island with its own history, its own identity, and a very particular way of understanding life, the sea, and the territory," the president stated.
For his part, the sculptor Paco Curbelo expressed the "honor" it represents for him to represent the island with a work made from materials characteristic of the territory, and explained the "artistic challenge" that maintaining an aesthetic line consistent with the previous sculpture of the late José Abad has entailed.
With more than forty years dedicated to art, Curbelo's career has been closely linked to the Canary Islands, although he has also developed projects and participated in international symposia. He trained at the School of Fine Arts of Las Palmas, Barcelona, and La Laguna, and from the beginning, he turned sculpture into a means of exploring matter, space, and landscape.
Representatives from La Graciosa participated in the inauguration, including students and members of various island collectives, as well as deputies from the regional Chamber.