Mal de amores

Ana Belén

Sculpture - Ceramics

"Mal de amores" is about heartbreak, based on my own experience. Fish is a good food for the heart; however, the fish head isn’t eaten – it's something people usually prefer to throw away. For a long time, I felt like that fish head, hard to love. *"Mal de amores"* was initially fired in the kiln, combined with *mazapán* (a traditional Mexican sweet). This choice came from a personal story of unrequited love. I was in love with a guy, thinking he felt the same about me, and he gave me a *mazapán* as a gift, which I treasured. Over time, as I realized the love wasn't reciprocated, I understood that what he gave me was just a *mazapán*—not love. That’s why *mazapán* is also part of the fish head. However, the first piece exploded in the kiln because of the *mazapán*, which symbolically closed my heartbreak story.