In this manuscript, Gego explains what she would say if people asked her about the influences on her work, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. She states that so far she would rather leave the responses to “historians and scholars.” She discusses how hard it is to be objective about one’s own work because she thinks that one can become lost in stories about one’s own life and memories, which might prove “insignificant and obsolete” to the critics. Gego ends with a discussion of one’s past, which according to her, “is a deeply-rooted part of all of us.” She adds that any abilities or combinations she may possess are the result of “a multi-dimensional game of chess.”

“Si gente pregunta” [If People Ask] is one of the few manuscripts written in Spanish by the German-born Venezuelan artist Gego (Gertrud Goldschmidt 1912–1994), who always had trouble communicating in that language. The text, which refers to outside influences in her work and her thoughts on what to say if people ask her about them, is a simple, brief reflection, very much in Gego’s usual style. She stresses the significance to all (not just her) of what we have experienced and learned in the past, and how much it influences who we are and what we do in the present. “Si gente pregunta (…)” is one of the texts selected and included under the subtitle: “Sabidura 2,” in Sabiduras y otros textos de Gego / Sabiduras and Other Texts by Gego, María Elena Huizi and Josefina Manrique (organizers), translated into English by Mark Gregson (Houston and Caracas: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Fundación Gego, 2005: 34–39). In their introductory note, the compilers suggest that this statement was probably written by Gego in connection with her exhibition at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo [Museum of Contemporary Art] in Caracas, in 1977. It was a time when her work and her life sparked renewed interest from the public, the critics, and the press. Certain things about Gego and her story—her reserve and shyness, for example; the fact that she was from overseas; her chance arrival in Venezuela after her escape—piqued a degree of interest, especially in the media, prompting a desire to learn about her background and how it might have influenced her work. People expected to hear this from the artist, if possible, but Gego always resisted analyzing her work in terms of such parameters, and in this document she explains her reasons for doing so. The manuscript is registered as follows: Manuscript: “Si gente pregunta” [If People Ask]/ c. 1977/ By hand, in pencil/ Block stock/ 22.6 x 21.6 cm/ Original in Spanish.