Talent and creativity in the posters of the 2023 Festival Season

Around 650 attendees gathered to enjoy the launch of the posters for the 2023 Cali Festival Season, which will take place in the coming months for the enjoyment of all citizens and, in turn, position the city as the World Capital of the Arts popular.

At the launch, the cultural sector, the media and the community in general enjoyed the exhibition of the official posters of the various festivals.

The season began on April 24 with the World Meeting of Popular Cultures and will end on December 30 with the Cali Fair, under the development of the Ministry of Culture and the Cali Mayor’s Office, in order to continue offering a wide variety of events for all tastes and ages.

“Cali is Popular Culture and that is what has been demonstrated in this Festival Season, which is the most important in the country. There are 12 festivals that the entire community will be able to enjoy, taking into account that we started with the World Meeting of Popular Cultures, which was undoubtedly a success and a milestone for our city that marks history,” said the Secretary of Culture, Brayan Hurtado. .

Urban graphics took over the Festivals

Seven artists from Valle del Cauca had the opportunity to join the Cali Festival Season, having the important task of creating each of the posters: Festival de Macetas, Mercedes Montaño Folk Dance Encounter, International Theater Festival, Festival of Music of the Pacific Petronio Álvarez, International Poetry Festival, World Salsa Festival and Cali Fair.

In this way, the diversity that exists in Cali and the commitment to local talent are recognized, in addition to making artists visible, who hand in hand with the team from the Ministry of Culture, cultural managers and Casa Ternario were in charge of the construction. of identity in each of these events, contributing from their talents and various graphic art techniques in the construction of identities and quality.

Pot Festival

The happy boys and girls, the hands that cook the alfeñiques, the emblems of Cali such as Cristo Rey, San Antonio and the Three Crosses and the vibrant colors are the representations made by the artist, graphic designer and muralist Juan Cuervo, illustrator of the poster of the Pot Festival 2023.

Under the concept of ‘A tradition that unites us’, Cuervo embodied a legacy of all Caleños, who live the heritage manifestation of giving a pot to their godchildren every year. This artist, who settled in Cali several years ago, works for Chya Taller and has participated in various artistic calls at the district and national level, carrying out mural projects in various cities.

Currently, he works with images through organic drawing and engraving on digital platforms; Likewise, he has experience in techniques such as screen printing, linocutting and typography, knowledge that also allowed him to make the poster to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Cali Viejo Carnival in 2022.

Meeting Mercedes Montano

A poster full of nature, celebration and youth are the pillars of the illustration of the XXIX National and International Meeting of Folkloric Dances Mercedes Montaño, made by the 31-year-old artist Ana María Gómez from Palmyra. In this work, its protagonists are a couple of children with typical Colombian folklore costumes and steps, representing the concept: ‘A legacy of popular culture’, focusing on the new generations who will be the ones who will keep the Colombian dance tradition alive.

Gómez, known as ‘Nana Sanclemente’, to find inspiration, focused on her three passions: music, neon lights and nature. From this, she was able to make the combination between the city and the jungle, making a background with which she was able to unite the cultures. She also saw the artists as a whole, who at the moment of going on stage are the representatives of the artistic culture of the country.

theatre festival

Eliana Zapata, 27, used the digital illustration technique to bring the poster of the Cali 2023 International Theater Festival to life. Born in the capital of Valle, she has developed her graphic project called Rito sin sermones, with which she has won a important place in the urban graphic sector of the city.

The personification of the curtain and the other characters that interact in the poster allow multiple readings such as the observation of human nature as a source of creation, the community as the essence of the theatrical scene. It should be noted that in the foreground an audience permeated and immersed in the work is represented thanks to the graphic resource of transparency.

Rito, who in this poster represented the Cali Cultura Popular brand in the force of collective creation, is also a muralist, a profession with which he explores the importance of connecting with the unconscious part of the human being and the need to recognize personal symbols.

Petronio Álvarez Pacific Music Festival

Water, that vital element that unites people, connects with spirituality and runs through each of the territories, is the common thread that unites peoples, that gives life and is essential in a home. That is why Karen Bravo, when making the poster for the XXVII Petronio Álvarez Pacific Music Festival, thought of a house as inspiration.

He imagined that, within it, inhabit women who protect the home, forge it and are the pillar. In this way, the idea of ​​the representation of the two midwives arises, which symbolize the African diaspora in Colombia and Mother Africa.

The work of the designer and muralist from Buenaventura is inspired by femininity, nature and fantasy. The opportunity to make this poster of hers allowed her to reconnect with her identity, the mangroves, her territory and the culture of the Colombian Pacific, achieving a direct contribution to the concept of the legacy of the Casa Grande del Pacífico.

Poetry Festival

A key question led Tatiana Del Toro Zúñiga from Cali to design the poster for the 2023 Poetry Festival: What do I think of when I hear the word poetry? Then a seed came to mind. She continued breaking down that concept further and thought of a typewriter that in turn is a nest to germinate the diversity that Cali inhabits.

The graphic designer, who is the creator of the ‘Lunas de papel’ project and co-creator of the Cali Collage Club, focuses her work on social design with a participatory and gender perspective. In this way, she becomes aware of the territory that she inhabits and the symbolic charge of her ancestors, for which she seeks to offer a graphic proposal that goes beyond the aesthetic.

The realization of this poster was the opportunity to make visible the details of everyday life, the subtlety of poetry in our daily lives. That is why it recognizes Cali as that meeting point, where it is collectively woven from many perspectives, which inhabit the rural.

World Salsa Festival

The most important thing for Carlos Malagón, or ‘Gonikus’ as he is known in the artistic world, from Cali, when designing the poster for the 2023 World Salsa Festival was to carry out his work in an informed manner. For this reason, he connected with the ‘Salsa Legacy of the Heart’ and made a collage of related images: the dancers, dancers and musicians who represent the orchestras and the different generations that converge in the salsa niche.

The poster, says the artist, did not have a particular technique. It was a linear work inspired by illustrations or comics with a line that was more visceral than polished, prioritizing a more aesthetic geometry.

In this way, Malagón, 52, thought of a central aspect that was ‘Legacy’, which he wanted to represent as an intergenerational factor. It is the way in which it represents salsa professionals who have had an important career and is articulated to the new generations, seeking to give continuity to the cultural tradition in Cali.

In addition to this, the artist is also a music lover, with salsa being the greatest musical influence in his life. To such an extent that, despite living in the United States a few years ago, his work has focused on projects alluding to the musical genre, such as the illustration for the cover of the book ‘The salsa auditions in Cali’. ‘Gonikus’, regardless of how far he is from his native Cali, salsa continues to run through his veins.

Cali Fair

The winner of the poster of version 66 of the Cali Fair was Juan Felipe Valencia González, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Valle del Cauca, a graduate of the Fundación Academia de Dibujo Profesional, who focused his career on the discipline of illustration, making This is a bridge to connect two of the things that you are most passionate about; painting and music.

“My proposal seeks to represent the essence of Cali, its salsa, its rhythms and everything we are as a society,” said Valencia González, who participated under the pseudonym ´Falen´. He has stood out for the creation of different graphic concepts focused on culture and music, as is the case of the projects: ‘Pueblos Mágicos’, ‘Festival Ricardo Nieto’, ‘Muralismo Isaacsiano’ and two of the versions of the ‘Festival Malagana Rock’, among others.

Angela Trujillo