Sueños de Jepira (Dreams of Jepira)
2022 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
10:30 minutes
Eusebio Siosi
Jepira is a mythical and essential place of the spiritual dimension for the Wayuu people. It is the starting point and final resting place in their transcendence process which is part of the territory and not dissociated from it, such as in the Catholic notion of Heaven. Today, the Pilon de Azúcar hill which corresponds with Jepira is part of their reclaimed land and connects this dessert culture to the sea; it is the place the Wayuu go when they need to speak with the dead which, along with dreams, is the main way to access spiritual knowledge. In a ritualistic performative action titled Sueños de Jepira (Dreams of Jepira) artist Eusebio Siosi roams through and hikes up to the Pilón de Azúcar hill in Cabo de La Vela, Guajira. There, he blends with his territory through his bare feet, and establishes a spiritual dialogue with his great-grandmother, a spiritual leader whom he did not meet but who, being in Jepira, is available to her people for consultation. Heir to the spiritual tradition of the Wayuu (usually reserved for women), Siosi begins his journey instigated by a desire to become one with this territory and connect with his ancestors, the sound of the ever-present winds accompanying his walk. In his ascension to the top of the hill, moments of ritual, protection, and cleansing of the body succeed in the pilgrimage. Atop the Pilón de Azúcar, Siosi encounters a foreign element, a niche housing the Fatima Virgin which was forcefully installed on the hill in the twentieth century. Siosi surrounds and covers it with a sacred cloth and makes it disappear in a reckoning of cultures: imposition, domination, but also liberation. The Catholic symbol thus becomes invisible to the territory and the dream of a Jepira that belongs again to the Wayuu is fulfilled.
Eusebio Siosi is an artist from the Wayuu people in the Guajira Peninsula in Northern Colombia. He trained as an architect and is today one of the most active cultural leaders in his territory which, along with his own practice, has helped localize the Wayyu’s contemporary artistic production. Through photography and video, and with the use of ritual elements, objects, and materials, his work focuses on the intersection of spiritual practices and the Wayuu territory. Siosi carries out ritualistic performances in which the combination of objects, gestures, and locations propose a displacement or relocation of the Wayuu culture in the world. From an organically decolonial perspective, he speaks of his people and of the recuperation of land and cultural rights. Siosi’s actions and performances open up spaces of communication between this community and the West, both incisive as well as healing, that point at a new order and relation between peoples. His performances operate as interfaces that the viewer can observe, consider, and sometimes participate in order to reassess notions of displacement, otherness, and colonialism through a highly ceremonial experience that is intrinsically associated with the territory.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Chinese woman, unhappy over 30-year arranged marriage, writes viral poems of love and resignation | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement China society + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more 13:58 Love, freedom and resignation: the chronicles of a Chinese village poet Love, freedom and resignation: the chronicles of a Chinese village poet Lifestyle Family & Relationships Video | Chinese woman, unhappy over 30-year arranged marriage, writes viral poems of love and resignation Han Shimei, who lives in a rural community in China’s Henan province, has been trapped in an unhappy marriage for 30 years Her poems about life and longing for love became a sensation after posting them on video-sharing app Kuaishou China society + FOLLOW Thomas Yau in Shanghai + FOLLOW Published: 11:00am, 11 Feb, 2024 Why you can trust SCMP Han Shimei is a 52-year-old woman living in a rural community in China’s central province of Henan...
© » STEVE LAMBERT
The Utopia Project at Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum - Steve Lambert The Utopia Project at Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum - Steve Lambert Steve Lambert wrote a book!!! Art Works News Writing About Steve Contact Resume Now Newsletter Book Creative Commons BY-NC-SA November 2022 Exhibitions Center for Artistic Activism The Utopia Project Location: Anacostia Community Museum, Washington D...
© » HYPERALLERGIC
ArtTable Survey Sheds Light on Hardships Faced by Arts Workers of Color Skip to content Protesters outside the since-removed Roosevelt statue in front of the American Museum of Natural History in a 2017 protest (photo Hrag Vartanian/ Hyperallergic ) It’s no secret that women and non-men, especially those of color, have historically been subjected to structural pay inequities...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
"Dionysus": Suzuki Tadashi Brings Vengeance to SIFA 2019 | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Dian P Susilaradeya January 14, 2019 By Kathy Rowland (642 words, three-minute read) Suzuki Tadashi is one of the brand names in the international tour circuit, whose productions have earned critical praise and inspired several generations of audiences...
© » KQED
The Best Cookbooks of 2023, According to NPR Staffers | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer Arts & Culture A Buffet of 2023 Cookbooks for the Food Lovers on Your List Beth Novey Dec 18 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Facebook Share-FB Twitter Share-Twitter Email Share-Email Copy Link Copy Link Book covers of: ‘Asada,’ ‘The Cookie That Changed My Life,’ ‘Ed Mitchell's Barbeque,’ ‘The Global Pantry Cookbook,’ ‘Invitation to a Banquet,’ ‘The Secret of Cooking,’ ‘A Splash of Soy,’ ‘Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook,’ ‘Tenderheart,’ ‘The World Central Kitchen Cookbook.’ (NPR) There are a lot of cooks at NPR...
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
‘A statement in itself’: Muslim-majority Kosovo’s first LGBTQ bar is a symbol of tolerance in a once oppressive society | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Food and Drinks + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more A drag performer kisses a girl during a drag show at Muslim-majority Kosovo’s first LGBTQ bar, Bubble...
© » KADIST
Martha Colburn
2017Martha Colburn’s film, Western Wild … or How I Found Wanderlust and Met Old Shatterhand , about the famed German author Karl May weaves together a mixture of stop motion animation, travelogue and biography that generates a kind of sensory wanderlust...
© » KADIST
Arabella Campbell
2011In Gradation (2011), nine raspberries lined up on a lichen-dotted rock progress from left to right, dark to light, plump and juicy to not-yet-ripe...
