La piel del mar
Mould of the Burela Lighthouse · Paseo da Marosa (Lugo, Spain)
Permanent painted intervention · 360° panorama · 2025
About the work
A 360° panoramic painting inside the mould of the Burela lighthouse: the sea surrounds the visitor and a great hand rises from the ocean.
La piel del mar is a permanent painted intervention that David Catá created in 2025 inside the old mould used to rebuild the Burela lighthouse after the storm that destroyed it in 2014. It turns an industrial structure into a meeting point between art, landscape and collective memory, within the O Espello do Faro project of the Burela town council.
The interior is wrapped in a 360-degree painting in which the sea surrounds the visitor; it is presided over by a great hand rising from the ocean and, on the horizon, the lighthouse as a symbol of guidance and return. The work grows with the community: the net-makers of Burela wove a net on which to place objects from the sea, and the lacemakers created a piece of lace over the painted hand.
On the opening day, David Catá stitched the silhouette of the lighthouse onto his palm —a new Horizonte— and performed for the first time “El faro”, a composition created for the work that can be heard through a QR code inside the mould. It thus brings together painting, music, craft and public participation.
The intervention on video
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