‘Promessas De Cera’

These have just arrived in the post! 'Promesas de Cera' (wax promises or offerings) are deeply symbolic religious practices rooted in devotion, healing, and embodied expression. Devotees leave wax figures in churches as a form of thanksgiving or fulfillment of a vow. This practice is associated with ex-votos, which are offerings made by believers in gratitude for a grace received, such as the healing of an illness or the resolution of a problem. Reframing this practice within a New Materialist framework and turning it into an artistic-pedagogic model opens up a lot of rich, interdisciplinary territory. New Materialism rejects the idea that matter is inert or passive. Instead, it emphasizes the vitality of matter, relationality, and the entanglement of humans and non-humans. Key thinkers like Jane Bennett, Karen Barad, and Rosi Braidotti explore how objects, substances, and bodies all participate in meaning-making. Wax is not passive. It melts, holds, deforms, and carries stories. The material is expressive in itself. The body parts modeled in wax are literal representations of physical-emotional states—pain, healing, desire, hope. These offerings form a dialogue between material and spiritual realms, bridging the tangible and intangible, human and divine.