She, Gran Canaria, is made from time, memories, sun and clay, as displayed by its feminine symbol par excellence, the aboriginal idol of Tara, a terracota piece linked with fertility worship.

She, Gran Canaria, is the daughter of light, the rays of sun that precisely in the month of March penetrate the solar mark in the cave of Risco Caído, illuminating as it does so the triangles etched out on the walls there, representing fertility. And this goes on day after day, until it gives way to the moon from October onwards, as its little fingers continue to etch the sequence of this life cycle on the ancient walls.

She, Gran Canaria, lives in the waves, lapping up the foam from the ocean, pushed in from the trade winds, and watched at close quarters by fish, star fish, crabs and dolphins, as well as by the Ruano sisters, winners of the of the World Winsurf Championships so many times that even the Atlantic has lost count.

Look and you shall find. Search just like poet Pino Ojeda did, through seaweed, fish, pointed rocks, waves and wide golden beaches. Because the women in Gran Canaria have created their own island of words, verses and metaphors. Josefina de la Torre wrote in her ‘Island Poems’ that “the sun and beach play children’s games with the sea and shades”.

Gran Canaria is both a canvass and a muse of art. Lola Massieu began painting at just eleven years of age at her uncle Nicolas’ workshop. Her early sources of inspiration, before she became one of the leading lights in experimental painting in the Canaries, were precisely the landscapes of her home island.

The island has also found in women the voice of opportunity with which to express itself. Mary Sánchez immortalized, with her volcanic, silky voice, the song ‘Shadows of the Nublo’. There were women too who were able to change the course of history on the island, such as Andamana, who managed to bring together the ten kingdoms that Gran Canaria was divided up into until the 14th century.

We have mentioned just a few women from Gran Canaria out of the many who have made, and continue to make, great efforts to make the island a different kind of place, a welcoming and unforgettable one. They have been, and continue to be, behind the aroma, flavour, history and authenticity of Gran Canaria. They all make up Gran Canaria and Gran Canaria is each one of them: every grandmother, mother, daughter, every granddaughter and every single woman pour their magic over this point of the planet. Gran Canaria is in fact you.