‘In Colombia we have lived with violence’: Clemencia Echeverri

2022 has been a year of great exhibitions. The retrospective of Miguel Ángel Rojas in Casas Riegner, the monumental Bruma by Beatriz González in the Espacio Fragmentosthe different tributes for the 100 years of Ramírez Villamizar, the work of the Chilean Cecilia Vicuña in the Banco de la República, the precious exhibition of Luz Lizarazo in the La Tertulia Museum in Cali… now, in a forceful and total way, there is a more on this list of prodigies: Deserere, by Clemencia Echeverri, at the Espacio Continuo gallery in Bogotá (Calle 80 nº 12-55).

Echeverri (Salamina, 1950) is one of the greatest referents of video art in Colombia. His work narrates the country and its social and environmental problems in a mixture of transcendental, harsh and poetic sounds and images that remain in the memory with the force of a cinema classic. In his retrospective at the Urrutia Museum of the Banco de la República, in 2019, his work Río por assault exposed the environmental disasters of Hidroituango on the Cauca River. In the Espacio Fragmentos, in another memorable work, the spectators were terrified and terrified by the sound of the tractor trailers and the images of the Escombrera in Medellín, the place where the victims of the infamous operation Orion.

In Espacio Continuo, Echeverri presents a new and ambitious installation with 13 screens that cover all the walls of the gallery. The play narrates the massacre committed by a group of paramilitaries against the Wayús in 2004. On each screen there is a different image and everything is mixed with the noise of the wind, the passage of the ‘narcotoyotas’, the voices of the surviving women, the red dresses of the women who have returned to their territory, their fabrics… it is a breath-taking work. This is the ‘self-portrait’ of him.

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What is the story behind Deserere? When was the first time you heard about the massacre?

First I would like to give the meaning of deserere; It comes from the Latin desert, to desert. In this country we have lived with violence and atrocities for so many years that identifying the precise moment of each event becomes a bit difficult. But I can say that I felt great indignation when I read about this event and its consequences in the 2010 Historical Memory Report, ‘Wayuu Women in the Crosshairs’, about the events faced by the Wayuu community when they “suffered the Bahía Portete massacre on 18 April 2004 at the hands of the Paramilitary North Front of the Auc, commanded by ‘Jorge 40’, aliases Pablo and Chema Bala, a Wayúe man and merchant from Bahía Portete”.

Why are wind and sound so important in this work?

I moved to La Guajira after extensive research work. As I put it in the exhibition catalogue, “each step revealed to me a time saturated by the manifest threat of a past that could repeat itself.” I was guided by a Wayú woman, Nazly Martínez Aapushana, through various places and followed by Jepirachi, “the wind that does not disappear”, who according to them carries and brings directions. The wind carries its own enveloping sound there that indicates the space and connects the places.

Echeverri (1950) studied Social Communication and Plastic Arts. He was also a teacher.

Photo:

courtesy of the artist

How was the relationship with the people in La Guajira?

It started two years before traveling. I understood that his universe has a wide complexity and is full of myths, symbols and strong family and matrilineal structures that required me to come step by step to propose approaches and specific ways of working.

(Can read: Gabo Festival: programming for various audiences during the weekend).

How long was it shooting? Did she work alone or did she take a whole recording team?

The filming time is not only measured in days and hours; planning so far in advance required me to imagine where the camera would go and what the microphones would capture. I don’t work with a script, but I did sense the places and I was defining, over approximately 15 days, where the eye and the ear would reach through my work team. For many years I have had equipment that allows me to concentrate my gaze. On camera I have worked with Camilo Echeverri and camera assistance with Daniel Cuervo; in sound and sound design, with Juan Forero, Diego Bernal and different assistants; in production of this work, in particular, with Paloma Valencia. In the video edition with the artist Víctor Garcés and Mariana Emilia Vejarano. And with Nazly Martínez Aapushana as producer with the wayús. I had a close bond for two weeks in different rancherías.

What was the story they told you that impacted you the most?

According to the Historical Memory report, the way in which the paramilitaries arrived with a list in hand at Bahía Portete, guided by a Wayú, Chema Bala, who betrayed them, and the narration of the crude acts against the women who had leadership.

At one point I decided to stop what I was doing and start over. I mobilized my gaze and this brought with it other technical means and other expressive resources.

Do you feel that the work has a spiritual connection with the Wayús?

I could not answer that question directly, but I must say that their spirituality accompanied me, as their great strength to resist so many interferences and pressures that they have had for centuries.

Why did you choose video as your main means of expression?

For about 20 years I have favored this medium as a work tool because I was interested in entering in detail the many difficult events that have surrounded us in this country, to understand them, bring sound and movement and gradually develop a voice and a language from art.

What has been your worst creative crisis?

At one point I decided to stop what I was doing and start over. I mobilized my gaze and this brought with it other technical means and other expressive resources.

What was the first work of art you saw in your life?

A copy of The Gleaners, by Millet, which was in my parents’ house.

(We recommend: María Fernanda Cardoso: Any creature of nature is a work of art).

Why did you decide to become an artist?

I believe that the word is not converted. Since I was a child I had a decided interest in painting materials, like almost all children, but I remained in that interest until I became a reason for study, both undergraduate in the country and master’s degree abroad, then I practiced many years of university teaching. , field trips and insistent creative work in the workshop.

Do you keep your girl drawings?

No, but I keep some for my architect son.

How many years have you been running?

The complete life.

What is the criticism that has bothered you the most?

The one that bothers me the most is my self-criticism, although sometimes it is what allows me to continue.

What is the collection to which you belong that makes you feel most proud?

There are really several acquisitions that fill me with pride: recently the acquisition of the work Free Version, by Muac, from Mexico. Also by the Banco de la República, the Les Abattoirs Museum, in France, and the Daros collection, in Switzerland.

How many pieces do you think you have produced?

If I add up the titles, there are not that many, but it has been many years.

What are your favorite work materials?

I always have a special affection for painting. It stays in my way of thinking and working when I am in front of video and sound.

How tidy is your workshop?

The disorder comes when there is some creative explosion. Everything comes out of the drawers, ideas are taken up, cables, equipment and materials jump out. Computers are updated. It is a chaos of requirements to later return to calm and everything to its place.

Do you have work hours?

All the time is a work schedule. When I read, when I rest, when I play sports, I work. This seems to have no end or time.

(You may be interested: “No one in my family believed in my life project”: Nadín Ospina

Who is the artist you most admire in Colombia?

More than one: Miguel Ángel Rojas, Doris Salcedo, Juan Fernando Herrán, Beatriz González.

For you, who is the most important living artist in the world?

Bruce Nauman. I had the chance to see his retrospective during the Venice Biennale this year and it was a real eye-opener.

With which artist would you like to exhibit in the same room?

Various video artists: Doug Aitken, Wodiczko, William Kentridge, Bruce Nauman…

What work of universal art would you like to have in your living room?

The Green Box by Duchamp.

Fernando Gomez Echeverri
Culture Editor
@LaFeriaDelArte

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‘In Colombia we have lived with violence’: Clemencia Echeverri