Mother-of-pearl, which will in time become the pearl, begins to form when a foreign element is introduced into the oyster. Anatomy of an Oyster is a journey into the past – a path backwards to revisit places from my childhood that help contextualise my present. It traces a story of violence, revision and integration from the abuses I suffered in my family as a child. It is, above all, an attempt to tell what needs to be told; a way of telling what could never be revealed to a now absent mother. At the same time, it’s a way of telling oneself. In this descent into the depths of remoteness, images and texts of the pearl-forming process accompany both new and archival photos, as well as short notes that capture my emotional, bodily and family memory. The pearl, which is an oyster’s autobiography, is the result of this search: a search carried out to find it, assimilate it, and finally remove it.
Rita Puig-Serra Costa is a Barcelona-based photographer. With a background in Humanities and an MA in Comparative Literature, she later studied Graphic Design and Photography. Today, Costa works on personal projects alongside various commercial assignments. Her first project, Where Mimosa Bloom, was published by Editions du Lic in 2014. Her ongoing Anatomy of an Oyster project will launch in 2023. Closely related to literature, Costa’s work revolves around the concept of identity. Her investigations also explore the essence of human relationships, and the influence that love, death, luck or memories have on the construction of ourselves.