AMÉRICA 1985
Body Art Plaza Colón. Madrid, España. Duration: 30 minutos
Photo: SaraRosemberg
As a counter-position to the celebration of the 500 years of the “Discovery of America” that were celebrated on 1992, I proposed the October 12th as “a day of mourning” in remembrance of the 67millon Indo-Americans that died from the time of the arrival of Colon 1492 until the colonization. I clarify that there was no “discovery” but a destructive invasion.
On October 12th , the official day of the celebration of the “discovery”, a paper sheet will be distributed to the attending public containing an excerpt of “Brevisima relacion de la destruccion de las Indias” by Fray Bartolome de las Casas. Wearing a dress made of pita robe and carrying a black flag, I walk towards the statue of Cristobal Colon. I stand in front of the pedestal and with a scalpel I lacerate my right hand fingers and write in blood on the monument the word AMERICA. Next, I walk to the other side of the pedestal and break a mirror that is my height (1.5 meters), I place the broken pieces in a basket and with my bloody hands I distribute them amongst the public. I return the mirrors the Europeans traded with the native Indo- Americans for gold during the “conquest”.
SESQUILÉ I 1985
Body Art. Hospital Anglo-Americano, Madrid, España.
Duration:. 18 hours and 35 minutes.
Photo: Sara Rosemberg
As an artist, I am the creator of my own artwork. My body as an artistic element can be extended through life itself. The birth of my son, Sesquilé, is such extension of my being. And through this experience, I want to exalt the culmination of pregnancy and the experience of giving birth unique to women, as a public event.
In front of a group of guests, I perform the whole process of giving birth, starting with uterine contraction pains, cervical dilations, until the delivery through the birth canal, when I meet my newborn face to face. Everything is included, various psychological states, grunting, screaming, breathing, sweating, tears, crying and cramps, the cutting of the umbilical cord and the delivery of the placenta, and finally, to hold in my arms a new human being filled with life, the new work of art called Sesquilé.
REMEMBRANZAS DEL REINO VEGETAL 1992
Body art- instalation. Third Bogotá Art Biennial, Colombia..
Duration: 7 minutes / Photo: Fernado Silva
Given the increase in violence caused by drug traffickers and the war on drugs sponsored by the United States, I call for attention so that no harm is done to the lives of Indigenous peoples who for centuries have cultivated coca plants for traditional, sacred and medicinal purposes.
Inside a white cloth hut, my son Sesquilé and I performed a ritual invoking the spirits of our ancestors to guide and protect the new generations. In the ritual I use a stick made using the bed sheet onto which Sesquilé was born, stained by blood seven years ago during his birth. The hut has been covered with coca branches and other medicinal plants.
SESQUILÉ II 1992
Objects. Third Bogotá Art Biennial, Colombia.
Photo: Fernando Silva.
I propose as an artistic process the seven years of my material education evolution, as well as the development and growth of my son, Sesquilé.
Inside a black guitar’s sound box, a black and white photo of the silhouette of my son and I is covered in glass. Inside a sound box of a white bandola, Sesquile's umbilical cord, desiccated 7 years before, is hung; the umbilical cord can be seen through a magnifying glass.
VEGETACIÓN COMPENETRADA 1992
Wooden object, photographed image on paper and gold paint.
Photo: Fernando Silva