SANDRA ELETA’S "LA SERVIDUMBRE": DIGNITY THROUGH DOMESTIC WORK

The Madrid-based gallery Memoria presents La servidumbre, a visual essay by Sandra Eleta on domestic labor and its social implications. The photographic series was produced between Panama and Spain between 1975 and 1989. The project seeks to explore different perspectives on photography as a manifestation of power and representation.

This proposal focuses on the traces of colonialism in everyday life. The photographs depict domestic workers from different generations posing frontally and with determination, as if their gaze were questioning the entire class system inherited from the colonial era. Their subjects transfer part of their tension to the setting and to the viewer, who observes how the space has been transformed in search of a sober dignity.

In this series, there is also a deliberate ambiguity regarding whether the photographs were taken in Panama or Spain, a nuance that engages with colonial contexts and suggests the continuity of a similar social architecture on both sides of the Atlantic. In this way, the project reveals the persistence of hierarchies and structures of gender, class, and coloniality, challenging the idea of clear cultural differences between two countries that appear to be more strongly linked by social hierarchy.

As a complementary activity to the exhibition at the gallery’s central space, Memoria’s Carabanchel venue will host screenings of the video installation Sirenata en B (1984), whose aesthetics combine visual strength and kitsch with references to popular culture, everyday life, and Panamanian society.

Sandra Eleta. La servidumbre can be seen until July 25, 2026, at MEMORIA (Centro), Piamonte 19, and MEMORIA (Carabanchel), Morenés Arteaga 18, Madrid, Spain.