Using large mirrored surfaces , the artist creates a perceptual device that alters the relationship between the viewer, architecture, and the urban landscape. The installation was originally conceived for Havana’s Malecón during the 11th Biennial , where it engaged with the sea as a symbol of infinity, boundaries, and desire. Where it engaged with the sea as a symbol of infinity, boundary, and desire. In its new location in the city of Kortrijk, the work is reborn with a distinct yet equally poetic resonance.

Now permanently installed in the city’s urban landscape, Happily Ever After has been acquired as part of the public collection, solidifying its relevance as a symbol of contemplation and dialogue between art and the public. Within this European context, the piece continues to explore the limits of the visible, proposing a liminal space where the physical and the immaterial meet. Its ability to reflect and duplicate the surroundings not only creates an optical illusion but also opens a portal to new interpretations of time, the body, and memory.

For Valdés, the mirror is not an end in itself, but a tool for transforming our perspective: what we see reflected is not only the external world, but also our own presence and projections. At this intersection of geometry, light, and thought, the viewer becomes the protagonist, and everyday space is transformed into a mystical place of pause and self-discovery.

The title, Happily Ever After , plays with the idea of ​​promise and destiny, but also with the dissolution of the ideal into the real. Framed within the curatorial context of After Paradise , the work embodies that post-utopian tension described by Rebecca Solnit , where hope becomes critical, and beauty becomes a political and spiritual act.

This permanent installation offers passersby an expanded experience of perception and a space for introspection. In this way, art becomes an emotional and sensory anchor within the urban fabric.

Commissioned by the Kortijk Triennial, Belgium .