Olive producer woman

MONUMENT TO ALCALÁ'S OLIVE PRODUCER WOMAN

If we want a territory to become an environment adapted to everyday life of human beings, it is not enough to mark off some spaces and provide it with equipments.

It needs to go along with immaterial elements to humanize it, this is, to link it to the essentials of the people who are going to occupy it, with their richness and their shortage, with their universal qualities and their local particularities; we are talking about questions such as aesthetic and proportional adaptation, harmony, beauty or collective memory.

Olive producer women are a social symbol of their own.

When the location of the monument dedicated to Olive Producer Woman was proposed at the Beca Roundabout, we are willing to give a character of its own to that area, connecting it to a figure and a tradition that is a very singular part of this town's History.

Dressing and elaboration of olives made by women was one of the two most important activities in Alcalá in the 20th century.

The character of the women who prepared olives represents a whole social symbol that contributes a human perspective to one of the two most important activities in Alcalá in the 20th century: The dressing and elaboration of the olives; this activity brought along a certain way of arrangement of the local society, family life and even introduced new words and cultural traditions made up of usages, lyrics, stories of oral transmission...

The concrete area where this monument is placed is even richer regarding this historic connection, as one of the most representative factories of Alcalá where olives were elaborated was here.

In 2003 Alcalá de Guadaíra's Town Council announced a contest of design ideas to build up a monument that will make real this homage from the town to its olive producer women. The Prize was awarded to the project presented by Augusto Fernández Arana, who is consequently the author of the sculptural set.

This consists of two elements. The first one is an isolated figure made in bronze, 2,30-metre tall, that represents the woman from Alcalá who used to work at the olive factories during the 50-60s; her face's expression shows steady and determined step, a single but at the same time proud of her work personality.

At a back position regarding the formerly described element, there is a wall where you can read the reason for this monument; there is on it a huge mural also made in bronze, a bas-relief with a naturalistic conception, 1.71 x 3.49 metres. The scene shown in it is a summary of the main tasks these women carried out in the factories: selection, stuffing and pitting.

It has many details that are already memories from that time, as the tin where the olive stones were thrown, the huge working tables or the planks of wood laid on the floor to avoid putting the feet on it.