JoCa — a Mexican-Spanish artist born in 1984, whose practice explores identity, technology, and contemporary digital environments — has created Echoes of Haworth, a collection of 22 works spanning oil paintings and resin cameo sculptures, built around the figures of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.

Curated by Rafael Pérez y Pérez, with management by Paulina Villarreal, the series is the most extensive project JoCa has undertaken to date: ten months of production, 25 original pieces of which only 22 are on display, and a monumental sculpture that will remain unseen until 2027.

It all began with an intimate gesture — rereading Wuthering Heights at 40, having first read it as a teenager — which led to research into Charlotte and Anne, and eventually became an exploration of gender, anonymity, and identity: themes already present in his earlier work, alongside classical portraiture pushed into abstract, hyperreal territory tied to mental health.

En Echoes of Haworth, JoCa establece un diálogo entre la tradición clásica del retrato y una visión contemporánea de la pintura. Sus figuras parten de lo reconocible para ser sometidas a un proceso de transformación: pinceladas vigorosas, capas superpuestas, desplazamientos y alteraciones de la imagen fracturan los rostros y generan una sensación simultánea de inquietud, movimiento y vulnerabilidad.

La serie encuentra su punto de partida en Charlotte, Emily y Anne Brontë, tres figuras fundamentales de la literatura del siglo XIX, y en el universo que construyeron desde Haworth, en West Yorkshire. En medio de los solitarios páramos ingleses y de las restricciones sociales de la época victoriana surgieron obras que trascenderían su tiempo, entre ellas Jane Eyre, Cumbres borrascosas y Agnes Grey.

Más allá de una representación literal de las escritoras o de sus personajes, JoCa recupera su historia para reflexionar sobre la construcción de la identidad y las estructuras que históricamente han determinado quién puede ser visto y quién puede ser escuchado.

Charlotte, Emily y Anne Brontë publicaron inicialmente bajo los seudónimos masculinos Currer, Ellis y Acton Bell, respectivamente. Este gesto, nacido de las convenciones de su época, se convierte dentro de la exposición en un punto de partida para abordar la tensión entre identidad y representación, entre aquello que una persona es y aquello que el entorno le permite mostrar.

En las obras, esta tensión se manifiesta mediante la fragmentación de los rostros. La imagen permanece reconocible, pero sus rasgos aparecen desplazados y parcialmente clausurados. JoCa no busca únicamente reproducir una apariencia física, sino capturar la sensación de una presencia: aquello que permanece detrás del rostro aun cuando la imagen comienza a desvanecerse.

Los marcos dorados forman parte fundamental de esta construcción simbólica. Más que delimitar las pinturas, actúan como una especie de jaula: una representación de las rígidas estructuras sociales de la Inglaterra del siglo XIX. Frente a ellas, las distorsiones y alteraciones de las figuras sugieren un espíritu que se resiste a permanecer contenido dentro del lienzo, del género o de su propia época.

La referencia a las Brontë se extiende también a la atmósfera emocional de la serie. Los ecos de Cumbres borrascosas, Jane Eyre y Agnes Grey aparecen en una pintura atravesada por conceptos como aislamiento, pérdida, opresión, deseo, crecimiento y resistencia. JoCa traslada esa intensidad literaria al lenguaje pictórico y convierte el retrato en un territorio donde conviven belleza y turbulencia.

La exposición invita así a reconsiderar los límites de la representación naturalista. Cada obra oscila entre presencia y desaparición, entre reconocimiento y distorsión, proponiendo una reflexión sobre la fragilidad de la memoria y sobre nuestra manera de percibir a los demás.

En Echoes of Haworth, el retrato deja de funcionar únicamente como registro de una apariencia para convertirse en una exploración de la identidad. La figura es reconocible y, simultáneamente, parece escapar de sí misma.

De esta manera, JoCa construye un homenaje contemporáneo al espíritu indomable de las hermanas Brontë y a la capacidad de una voz para trascender las estructuras que buscan contenerla. (Rafael Pérez y Pérez)

Via El Economista. 

These questions came to mind when I received an email from a young man who argued that Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, was an immoral book which Catholics should not read. His argument was rooted in the immoral actions of Edward Rochester, a brooding and Byronic presence in the novel with whom Jane Eyre becomes involved romantically. I’ll let my correspondent state his case:

We see Edward Rochester breaking his wedding vows, poisoning the marital union by his rejection of giving up his life for his wife. He would have been content to continue his infatuation with Jane Eyre had she not discovered he was married; even after she knows this, Edward pleads with her to stay and be with him even though he cannot legally marry her…Edward clearly disregards his marital vow and is indifferent to the moral demand of the value-response his wife merits; he completely disregards the entire sphere of values to pursue his desire for union with Jane. In doing this, he poisons his affection towards Jane.

This is all very true, but the presence of a wicked and prideful character does not make the novel wicked and prideful. On the contrary, the novel exposes Rochester’s prideful wickedness, his neglect of his insane wife, and his deceitfulness. It also shows how his moral relativism has harmful and destructive consequences.

Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel is a great example of what might be called the art of darkness, which paradoxically sheds light on the presence of goodness, truth, and beauty. What, then, is the art of darkness and how does it show us goodness and truth? (...)

Having shown the difference between the art of darkness and the dark arts, there is no denying that Jane Eyre is very much the former. It is a Christian novel written by a devoutly Christian novelist. (Joseph Pearce)

BookClub's AI thinks that Jane Eyre will turn you into a lifelong reader. The same AI thinks that Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair is good for a rainy day. Whatever.

Antes de traducir un clásico hay que decidir también qué hacer con quienes lo habitaron previamente. La mayoría de profesionales prefieren no mirar demasiado atrás, trabajar a solas con el original y dejar las versiones anteriores para el final. Con Jane Eyre, Molines se fue “directa al texto para intentar no contaminarme. Si no, puedes tener la tentación de dejarte condicionar por esas decisiones. Cuando ya tenía la traducción terminada, eché un vistazo para ver cómo había resuelto algunas cosas que me generaban curiosidad”. Y como conocía la obra con anterioridad, sabía que había cuestiones en las que quería marcar la diferencia: “en inglés la narradora dice reader, y lo habitual ha sido traducirlo en masculino. Yo lo he desdoblado y hablo de lector y lectora. También por el contexto de la época, cuando las grandes lectoras de novela en ese momento eran mujeres”.

Al releer Cumbres Borrascosas en inglés, Rovira se sorprendió por la dureza y sobriedad de la novela, que no recordaba de sus lecturas anteriores: “Ese lenguaje refleja mucho aquel paisaje seco, oscuro, ventoso, húmedo en el que tiene lugar la novela. Por eso quise evitar embellecerlo o dulcificarlo, también en los diálogos en los que los personajes llegan a ser muy crueles. Mi principal aportación ha sido respetar esa aridez y esa aspereza del original”. (...)

Trabajar con una obra inédita ofrece al traductor algo parecido a atracar en un territorio virgen. Un clásico, en cambio, llega lleno de huellas. Para Molines, el primer caso implica, por una parte, “abrir tu propio camino, pero también vas a ciegas en muchas cosas”. Mientras que, cuando te zambulles en un clásico, “suele haber muchos estudios que analizan intertextualidades, metáforas y otros aspectos del texto. Todo eso ayuda a afinar cuestiones que pueden pasar más desapercibidas. Por ejemplo, en Jane Eyre hay muchísima terminología relacionada con el orientalismo, muchos referentes de la India y esto se ha estudiado desde los estudios poscoloniales. Tiene un peso importante en la novela. Si acudes a traducciones antiguas, esa vertiente suele neutralizarse y desaparecer, porque quizá el traductor pensaba que en España no se iba a entender”. (Lucía Márquez) (Translation)

The Brontë sisters’ father was the parish priest of Howarth [sic]. The museum is a renovated parsonage where the sisters lived. Traces of the sisters remain everywhere, including the fireplace used by Emily Brontë and the dress of her elder sister Charlotte, who wrote *Jane Eyre*.

After leaving the parsonage, I began a trek across the moor—the wild, open landscape that inspired *Wuthering Heights*. Top Withens, the ruined farmhouse said to have influenced the novel, sits atop a hill approximately 430 meters above sea level.

Walking for about an hour and a half across the moor, where only the wind’s whisper could be heard, I reached the desolate scene: two trees standing beside a crumbling stone house at the hill’s summit. Sitting on the roof of the abandoned house and looking down, I saw vast plains dotted with purple heather flowers swaying in the wind—a serene yet beautiful sight. I realized that the author, having grown up in such scenery, could depict a love that is both tranquil and ferocious. Facing the strong wind, I quietly recited Catherine’s famous line expressing her passion for Heathcliff: “I am Heathcliff!” (Kwak Ah-ram)

Conversely, the trailer for Wuthering Heights: House of the Damned does a pretty solid job of selling it as being just as faithful of an adaptation as many of the others have been over the past century. There’s Catherine’s ghost, a look at Cathy (meaning that the story will at least dabble in the decades-spanning material), and even looks to be taking significant inspiration from the latter pieces of the book that rarely see any play in cinematic versions. Notably, the film has even cast Sky Cheema, a non-white actor, in the role of Heathcliff, which was famously played by the very white Jacob Elordi most recently, inciting a great deal of controversy.

All in all, this is a fun riff on the idea and is just as valid as any number of the countless other adaptations over the years, in theory. My hope is that Hirani and co. keep their heads up and resist the urge to just turn it into a hack-and-slash feature with Wuthering Heights cosplay, instead embracing the story’s actual text in meaningful ways. To their credit, the trailer looks like much more of the latter rather than the former, so I’m more than down to check it out. (William Jones)

A book Min Jin Lee would give to her younger self: 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Originally published in 1847, this novel has become one of the most-read books of all time. It’s the story of every chapter of Jane Eyre’s life, from her harsh upbringing as an orphan to her position as governess for a young French girl at Thornfield estate, where she meets and falls in love with the charming Mr. Rochester. It’s a powerful tale of love, classism, religion and feminism.

What Min Jin Lee says about this book: “[I] recall reading this in [my] 20s, but [I] should have read it in [my] teens and then revisited it in [my] 30s.” (Carissa Mosness)

She awarded the literary classic 5 stars, and high praise — the only thing she disliked about the book was “that the story had to end! I wish it could have gone on forever,” [she] said. 

She felt picking up the Brontë novel also boosted her vocabulary. 

“One thing I like about this book is that it’s a older book and has older words to learn, so you can learn what they mean,” [she] said.

9. Performative male book

He has one whole book – a copy of Wuthering Heights he bought for his GCSEs (because he thought it was the same as Jane Eyre). The book is displayed prominently opposite the door, to demonstrate what an erudite feminist he is. (Claudia Cox)

 S4 E7: With... Ruth Rossington

Mia and Sam chat to their colleague Ruth on this episode! Ruth is part of the Visitor Experience team at the Museum and has previously worked as a journalist and London tour guide!

We look at the progression of photography in the nineteenth century and discuss the mysterious backstory of one particular item in the collection...