Mermaids could be the leaders

A philosopher I love —Santiago Alba Rico— wrote a book presenting the theory that children are a species in themselves. And I would add that children’s literature was invented to preserve the children species from the miseries and inequalities of our grown up world. The substance of the fairy tales is per se non binary, it presents fantasy as absolutely credible and able to tell about the possibilities we would have ahead of us if we were able to listen to a mermaid , for example. Mermaids have been for centuries victims of our prejudices —they womanly aspect used to present them as perverse—they animal aspect preventing them to enter our world. Only fiction could liberate them of our unfair visions and give them voice again. Oh I really wish I could be a hybrid these days! Instead of being seated in a chair I would be floating in a tank or in the Rhein while managing my meetings… Mermaids could be the leader designers of the necessary non duality that is needed to built empathy with another species or with one another even! I am sure they have a lot to tell about the Oceans and we a lot to learn from adaptive practices from them. Women’s day is a mermaids day, a non binary day, a day of hope for a different world.

By Chus Martinez,
Spanish curator, art historian, and writer.