Arts of Resistance
A Vancouver show explores how creative expression has helped Latin Americans cope with oppression. By turns, it is darkly humorous and woefully tragic.
Artist unknown, “La Loca,” no date, festival mask from Peru that represents the devil’s wife (photo by Kyla Bailery, courtesy UBC Museum of Anthropology)
The story told by a new exhibition at the UBC Museum of Anthropology starts innocently enough with a parade of pre-Columbian blouses. Colours denote the wearer’s age and status. Nearby, the spiritual power of the Amazonian creation myth is evoked through a large mural. Black lines represent the forest, blue areas the river system. Animals are symbolized by other colours.
But it’s the masks, capes and headdresses in Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America that really attract the eye. The concept of the devil figures prominently in pre-Hispanic cultures and is often associated with subterfuge and temptation. Witness the devil tunic that often appears in Mexican Christmas plays. It’s meant to lure shepherds away from attending the nativity, not to scare them.
Felipe Horta, “Untitled,” undated, fragment of a devil tunic worn for Christmas plays in Mexico (photo by Alina Ilyasova, courtesy of UBC Museum of Anthropology)
But after the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century, the devil becomes malevolent. And as conquest turned to bureaucracy, the Mesoamerican peoples used the devil to mock and satirize their overlords. La Loca, or the devil’s wife, reflects this duality. The mask is both humorous and scary.
The exhibition, on view until Oct. 8, takes a darker turn with works from the late 20th century and early 21st century. This is the era of insurrection, corruption and drug cartels. Violence is endemic and artists use various techniques, both traditional and contemporary, to make their point.
Pedro Perez Martinez, “Untitled,” 2017, painting on bark paper depicting a corrupt election (photo by Alina Ilyasova, courtesy of UBC Museum of Anthropology)
A series of ink drawings document modern realities – a politician buying votes, farmers bringing in the harvest and families moving to the United States – fascinating stories in their own right, but also delicately crafted art on traditional bark paper.
The Ayotzinapa Codex is more pointed. A ribbon of 15 panels tells the story of 43 Mexican students kidnapped in 2014 by a local drug cartel believed to be in collusion with state authorities. The story is told in text and simple drawings. The government is represented as Spanish overlords killing Aztec warriors.
Juan Manuel Sandoval Palacios and Diego Sandoval, “Ayotzinapa Codex,” undated (photo by Alina Ilyasova, courtesy of UBC Museum of Anthropology)
There’s no ambiguity in the next series of images. The fight between the Peruvian government and Maoist guerrillas is depicted on five small paintings on wood, including Enfrentamiento by Venuca Evanan Vivanco, which document violence on both sides. Figures devoid of unnecessary detail amplify the horror.
Venuca Evanan Vivanco, “Enfrentamiento,” 2018 (photo by John Thomson)
On the opposite wall, a series of crayon drawings made by young Salvadoran refugees vividly depict the plight of Indigenous peoples caught between opposing forces, in this case government troops pursuing Communists. “The soldiers came and killed our families in El Salvador,” reads a caption from a drawing by Maribel Ayala. It’s heartbreaking to see children acknowledge violence as part of growing up.
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Maribel Ayala, “The soldiers came and killed our families in El Salvador,” 1981, drawing (photo by John Thomson)
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Artist unknown, untitled, 1981, embroidery depicts of refugees who fled violence in El Salvador as they await asylum in Honduran camp (photo by Kyla Bailey, courtesy of UBC Museum of Anthropology)
Art has always documented injustice. These later images, borne of continuous and widespread upheaval, continue the tradition of using traditional forms to address ongoing concerns. Arts of Resistance tells those stories through folk art, metaphor and symbolism. ■
Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America is on view at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia from May 17 to Oct. 8, 2018.
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2
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