An art exhibition by Alberto Calero Lopez and Vivian Mac Gillavry
"Unlearning Distance" is an exploration of intimacy freed from fear, shame, and expectation — a process of dismantling learned barriers and reimagining connection.
In the work of Alberto Calero López, male intimacy is reclaimed from generations of policing — forbidden in public, fetishized in private. Queer lives have been shaped by the tension between prohibition and hypersexualization, leaving little room for a third space: one where closeness is simply allowed to exist. His work becomes an act of deconstruction, peeling away inherited scripts that tell us male touch is dangerous, that vulnerability must be masked, that intimacy must always lead somewhere. Through portraits, gestures, and shared silences, Alberto finds beauty in what is often overlooked, trivialized, or even deemed unworthy — reframing it as a site of tenderness and quiet power.
In the work of Vivian Mac Gillavry unlearning turns inward through sculpture. Fascinated by shapes, networks and systems, her pieces evoke growth, decay and transformation.The works in this exhibition are focussed on the distance we sometimes experience to ourselves, our surroundings and in particular our bodies. Coming to terms with our own physical fragility and inviting the viewers to consider the body not as an isolated entity but as part of a living network.
Together, these practices approach intimacy as both an external and internal journey. One moves through the fragile beauty of human closeness; the other maps the structures and flows that sustain connection. Both dissolve the distances we have been taught to keep — from one another, and from ourselves.
