Colombia patria mia
What is Colombia? Is it a territory limit? Is it a home? Is a feeling? It's an idea? These are the questions, yet without answers, that I frequently ask myself when I think of my country. For me Colombia is a whole, it is a set of wonders that day by day sees the work without rest of all Colombians, a land that sees us born, grow and dye, a place full of incredible surprises, a country that everytime offers us unreachable challenges. Colombia is love, homeland, passion, creation, fight, and although sometimes it makes me want to run away from it, it is my country, for which I will work tirelessly to turn it into that promised land.
This patriotic feeling that burns every day in me, has inspired me to carry out this exhibition. With the work done during these two years, I intend to show my love for Colombia, and inspire everyone who sees it to believe in their country, to love and respect it. The completion of this exhibition was a long and arduous process, since weighing in on an idea to represent Colombia is very easy, as I said before, this country always surprises us with something new, the difficult thing was to make that idea tangible. Maybe I am not the most artistic or disciplined person, but these years of work taught me that you only need a pinch of desire and a little push to converge your ideas into reality. I will carry this learning with me all my life, and when I work to build a better country I will always remember what I learned with my teacher Pamela.
I take this opportunity to give a big acknowledgement to Pamela Leon for accompanying me in this process and always supporting me with my ideas, although the final product was the opposite of what I had planned.
I hope you enjoy this exhibition and manage to feel that love for Colombia and believe in your country again.
Title: Plata-No
Date: February, 2019
Technic: Digital collage
Measurements: 18.5 cm X 27 cm
The banana massacre was an event that marked the history of Colombia by staining Colombian soil with peasant blood. The foreign company "Chiquita banana" in collaboration with the national government, massacred the workers who cultivated the banana plantations. This eventuality demonstrated the priorities of the Colombian government, putting the money over the life of its nationals. This work, inspired by the Colombian artist Jose Alejandro Restrepo, who worked on this historical event with his work "Musa paradisiaca", illustrates this event as such. It is made up of several elements, some of them are Bananas in the background, which serve as context and begin to give clues about what the work is based on. The farmer in the center of the college, which represents the affected community. Desolation can be seen in his eyes. The logo of the company "Chiquita banana" at the top right, symbolizing power but from one side, never from the front. The revolver, which is a symbol of threat and violence. Finally, the phrases that say "musa paradisiaca" which is the scientific name of the banana and at the same time, the title of the work that inspired me; And "Plata-No" which works as a play on words where the words "Plata" and "No" are obtained from the word "platano". The line which separates the words, plays the role of representing the silence of the farmer.
Title: Homenaje a la agricultura
Date: May, 2020
Technic: Photograph
Measurements: 18.5 cm X 27 cm (each photograph)
This work, "Homenaje a la agricultura", is, as the title says, a homage to agriculture and Colombian farmers. It was inspired by the artist Jesús Abad colorado, and his exhibition "El testigo" where he exhibits a series of photographs about the violence that the country is experiencing. This work is a series of photos that show a process, so it is important to always expose them in the correct order; This order is the first photograph, hands with earth, second photograph, hands with the orchid, and the third photograph, hands with the lit candle. Seeing these photographs in that order, one wants to represent a sad reality that the country lives, where the farmers are assassinated by different circumstances. This work is dedicated to them. The first photo expresses the beginning of the cultivation process, choosing, touching, and smelling the earth, wishing to cultivate in it. This stage is related to life itself, this being the birth of the human being. The second photo represents the moment in which the cultivated flourishes when all that effort bears fruit. This is related to the stage of life when you find your way and feel fulfilled, all the years of learning bear fruit. The last photo represents the moment in which this person who makes the earth flourish can no longer do it, not because of his natural death but because of the vile murder. This is the reason why I chose a candle and not a dead flower, the candle is a symbol of mourning. As for the hand, it is also an important symbol, they represent hard work and the ability to build and create.
Title: Colombia “a la lata”
Date: May, 2020
Technic: sculpture
Measurements: 5 objects of: X: 5cm, Y: 12 cm, Z: 5cm.
This work 'Colombia "a la lata” ' represents the Colombian essence, it is a simple composition that consists of making a crop using reusable materials. It works as a functional, applicable, and visually pleasing idea. My idea when doing this work was, in the first instance represent Colombia in sculpture, I achieved this through the use of beer cans, a product with which Colombians feel identified, represents union and happiness, and as a second object, I used agriculture, as one of the main factors that represent the country. Secondly, as a secondary objective, it was to make a functional sculpture, this idea has two pros, the first is easy to replicate, and second, it uses reused materials. It is not a complex work, it does not present a criticism, nor does it have a social objective. It is simply a representation of art as a tool to solve a problem, as a way to exploit creativity and simplicity.
Title: Colombia patria mía
Date: May, 2020
Technic: Color pencil on paper
Measurements: 8,8cm X 12,5cm
This idea was born from the question: what is the maximum representation of Colombia in the rest of the countries? My answer was very simple, this was: "the only true, tangible and visible representation that can be given abroad about Colombia is the passport" upon seeing this document that officially represents us in other countries, I did not feel identified. This, due to the absence of national essence that is shown in the pages. For this reason, I decided to do this work. It consists of the remastering of the first page of the national passport. This work shows the essence of Colombia, showing various elements of the country. In it, you can see a macaw, which in my opinion represents freedom, and inspires beauty, in addition to having the colors of the Colombian flag. You can also see a background with mountains, sunsets, and palm trees, which represent the incredible landscapes found in the national territory. In addition, I decided to put an orchid, which is one of the most representative flowers in Colombia, and fulfills the role of showing one of our best commercial products. Also, you can see some yellow butterflies, inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, "Cien años de Soledad", they fulfill the function of representing our culture. Finally, I decided to write the homeland prayer, which shows the pride of the Colombians and the love for the country that all of us share.
El silencio de los que creyeron en Colombia
Nicolás Vélez Orozco
The disappearance and murder of social leaders was a phenomenon that has occurred strongly for many years in Colombia, in 2019 murder cases increased. Over the course of the year, more than 250 cases of murder were reported for different reasons. The common factor was the protection of territories that were wanted for mining, coca planting, among other illegal acts. Most of these deaths were attributed to insurgent groups such as the FARC, the ELN, and the Black Eagles. This gave a lot to talk about, since all the people were shocked by the mass murders that occurred on a daily basis, and as always, the media were in charge of looking for culprits, especially the intellectual authors of the crimes. These authors were never clearly known.
These eventualities inspired me to make an artistic intervention in public space related to this topic. After researching various Colombian artists who will base their work on social situations like this, I decided to look further into the work that Doris Salcedo has done for many years. After understanding how this artist works, I decided to do the artwork that I will explain below. In this case, I use the term explains, instead of showing, since being an intervention in public space did not last long, I had to withdraw it after a few weeks. Also do not take any visual tests due to own negligence. The only visual proof of the work is the sketch below of the planning of the intervention.
Sketch.
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The idea that was carried out consisted of a series of candles hanging from the high school building of Tilatá school, with the aim that anyone who passed could see the work. Each candle was hung at a different height to break the monotonousness of the composition, the candles were white and had the name of a social leader assassinated in the course of 2019 written. This work represented the mourning felt by all Colombians for the murder of our social leaders, the white of the candles was chosen since this color represents purity and transparency, the candles as such represent mourning, funeral and silence, and the names chosen were with the objective of paying tribute to the brave leaders who gave their life to protect what they believed in.
