Be advised: this article includes description of bloody ritual animal combat.
Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) has recently opened an exhibition titled Claudia Martínez Garay: Every seed is awakened by the Peruvian artist, who lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The topics that Garay tackles in her show are vast – from the marks of the Peruvian colonial past of Spanish rule, patriarchal legacy, and Andean heritage.
Her choices of media echo the complexity of such significant topics – from a video installation and risograph prints to ceramic pieces and tuftings. ‘It’s been a history lesson to do this show’, shares the curator of the exhibition, Tiffany Boyle. You know from the outset the depth of the show when there is a glossary at the end of the pamphlet accompanying the exhibition.
Upon entering the space one is immediately drawn to the monumental centrepiece, Hold Everything Dear. The mural, commissioned by DCA, comprises numerous digital prints on aluminium, displayed in full relief, making them appear almost sculptural. The sheer scale of the work is impressive, as it almost reaches the ceiling. The focal point of the mural is a female figure hung upside down by ropes at her ankles; below lies a huge stone with multiple limbs outstretched from it with various tools, notably a bat. All of this points to the woman’s inevitable demise.
According to the artist, this image derives from the chronicles of sixteenth-century nobleman Felipe Gianna Poma de Ayala who documented how the Inca population was often mistreated by their Spanish rulers. In this case, the woman is being punished for committing adultery – the stone signifying an imminent danger. The rhizomatic composition (resembling subterranean plant stems) alludes to a root structure, emblematic of a tree. Even though the female figure is in a dire situation, she is also at its centre, holding the composition together. The flowers that surround the female figure render her in an almost transcendental light.
Garay employs various heraldic imagery, both from Peruvian historic archives, such as the captured condor (a symbol of the Andes) and a cocoa bean referring to extraction of natural resources, while also including Inca Cola, a symbol of contemporary culture. The subject matter is significant and grave, yet it is encapsulated in a contemporary form and soft colour palette. Boyle shares that the artist used as her inspiration the Peruvian children’s educational textbooks that she grew up with, to render the works more palatable and, in a way, to help to ‘digest’ such complicated themes.
The artist comments that through her works she aims to reconnect with the history of her ancestral country and learn from it. One of the leitmotifs in the exhibition is the disruption of the linear, chronological timeline at the core of the Andean Cosmology, a belief whereby time and space are perceived in multiple dimensions. This is one example referred to in the show, of pre-Columbian knowledge systems, to which the artist tries to draw the visitor’s attention.
The broad, multifarious, layered history of diverse ideologies, from the indigenous Inca empire, to colonial Spanish rule, to the present-day political tenure, has left a mark on Peru’s geographical territory – a theme that underscores the ongoing series Pacha. The tuftings are displayed along the perimeter of the exhibition space and have a heraldic quality to them, while some even bear similar features to altar compositions. Garay quite literally reflects these processes and events by interweaving different threads of history in each tufting (a method of weaving that includes clusters of yarn pushed through a woven base to create a plush texture) — all of them contain certain heraldry that evokes ancient civilisations, such as a llama or a condor.
The political facet is further emphasised in a series of risograph prints, One by One (2018), where the silhouette of the sun repeated throughout the works is a constant reminder how the sun heralds beginnings and ends of nations. The latter artwork is one from a series of risographs on which Martinez Garay collaborated with DCA’s own print studio. According to Vanessa Boyle, the artist was only interested in experimental printing techniques. Luckily, at DCA Print Studio every printmaker is versatile and ‘fluent’ in multiple printing techniques, creating a perfect match between artist and institution for the show, inspiring a ‘cross-pollination’ between the two.
Another work that certainly captures one’s eye is Intrusos en sus tierras (‘Intruders in their own lands’) – a contemplation on Peru’s geography from historical and geological perspectives, according to Boyle. The overall shape alludes to the Andean Chakana Cross., comprising nine\ prints that make up a whole and appear as stills taken from a film. In a sense, that is an accurate observation – each represents a ritual or cultural event from Peruvian history, for instance, the far-right piece depicts a bird claw grasping at a fur surface. It describes an annual event in Peru ominously called the Festival of Blood.
According to Boyle, the event should have been banned, akin to bullfighting, but is still ongoing: in similar fashion to bullfighting, two subjects wrestle each other until one of them wins. However, instead of a matador, the Peruvian tradition includes a bird, notably the Andean symbol, the Condor. In this rendition of a somewhat gory ritual, the condor is tied to the bull’s back after being trapped in a cage for several days and being fed alcohol, before the two animals are ‘left to battle it out’. If the condor wins, it is an auspicious good sign for Peru that year.
On a macro scale, this is an incredible work of visual storytelling – without knowing its context or media, one can interpret it as frames from a comic book; the monochromatic indigo and white colour palette in four of the panels is also reminiscent of that medium’s aesthetic. At the same time, the overall form is an unmistakeable reminder of the cultural belonging of such work – the Andean heritage through the Chakana Cross. Thus, the work is complex and fascinating on both macro and micro scales.
Lastly, the delicate and somewhat naïve conglomeration of seemingly-miniature objects, ceramic pieces ¡Kachkaniraqkun! / ¡Somos aún! / ¡We are, still! is a nod to museum collections and their methods of display. For instance, museums would often display a part of a larger artefact, such as a hand, rather than its whole – suggesting the often-illegal nature of acquiring such possessions.
Overall, the exhibition is informative (requiring the visitor to refer to a map of its layout for cross-referencing when viewing the exhibits, as there are no labels placed next to them), while being a delight for the senses (a sample of tuft yarn is included in the display – a pleasant surprise for the child in each of us).
I would echo Boyle’s sentiment that the exhibition is an education, at least for me, but also the map creates an almost quest-like feel that makes the entire visit an adventure. It might not have been time-travel, but when viewing Garay’s works, with their manifold meanings and textures, one does feel like traversing different timelines and spaces – thus echoing the Andean Cosmology of simultaneously exploring multiple dimensions of time and space.
With thanks to Anna Shevetovska for this review.
