March 2015 marked the 5th centenary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Ávila. To celebrate this event, Acción Cultural Española and the national library in Madrid (Biblioteca Nacional de España) organised a biographical exhibition on the saint. The show examined episodes in her life and analysed her literature and influence on subsequent writers through more than a hundred items, including artworks, books and original objects.
Based on the account of Teresa’s life through her written work, which determined the exhibition layout, AC/E has designed a travelling version of the project using graphic, interactive, audio-visual resources and facsimile versions of her most important publications. It reflects Teresa’s significance as a founder and writer.
Teresa was a keen reader from her childhood days, and this essential trait which shaped her future as an outstanding writer is shown through her readings, the books from which she quotes. She was a woman of frail health but very strong willed and determined, and this is conveyed by the path she chose: her taking of the Carmelite habit, leading to her search for the true meaning of monastic life not only for herself but for Carmelite nuns who, like her, wished to live in poverty and prayer. The convents she founded are the result of this great reforming effort.
Teresa’s prose is hugely visual on account of the comparisons she makes to get across to her readers – Carmelite nuns – what she describes and recounts. She needed images to convey her spirituality and successfully resorted to everyday reality to express her complex experiences. Imitating her, the exhibition sets out to show some of the allegories she uses, accompanying them with artistic creations that illustrate her work or are derived from it.
Her writings continue to be a school for analysing the soul, and her oeuvre has left an extremely deep impression all over the world. The aim of The Proof of My Truth is to show it in a visual and attractive way, in order to open the pages of her oeuvre to future readers.
Based on the account of Teresa’s life through her written work, which determined the exhibition layout, AC/E has designed a travelling version of the project using graphic, interactive, audio-visual resources and facsimile versions of her most important publications. It reflects Teresa’s significance as a founder and writer.
Teresa was a keen reader from her childhood days, and this essential trait which shaped her future as an outstanding writer is shown through her readings, the books from which she quotes. She was a woman of frail health but very strong willed and determined, and this is conveyed by the path she chose: her taking of the Carmelite habit, leading to her search for the true meaning of monastic life not only for herself but for Carmelite nuns who, like her, wished to live in poverty and prayer. The convents she founded are the result of this great reforming effort.
Teresa’s prose is hugely visual on account of the comparisons she makes to get across to her readers – Carmelite nuns – what she describes and recounts. She needed images to convey her spirituality and successfully resorted to everyday reality to express her complex experiences. Imitating her, the exhibition sets out to show some of the allegories she uses, accompanying them with artistic creations that illustrate her work or are derived from it.
Her writings continue to be a school for analysing the soul, and her oeuvre has left an extremely deep impression all over the world. The aim of The Proof of My Truth is to show it in a visual and attractive way, in order to open the pages of her oeuvre to future readers.
