«RUXAN Joyas de Nuestra Tierra»: the collective exhibition of Mapuche artists arrived in Buenos Aires. Photo courtesy.
The House of Culture of the National Endowment for the Arts in Buenos Aires was the epicenter last Friday of the opening of the exhibition “RUXAN: Jewels of our land”. This cultural event, since its inauguration, seeks to highlight the diversity and cultural construction of the Mapuche identity with protagonists from Neuquén.
Pieces of clothing, fabrics, pottery, ceramics, lithic art and gold and silverware that represent the art of the Mapuche people are on display until September 3 before an audience avid for stories and testimonies.
“We seek to bring together different artistic manifestations that take the Mapuche culture as the axis of their creation, a cultural construction that is part of a whole. In this worldview, a meeting point and also a flight point, the exhibition invites you to take a tour in a space fully inhabited by works made from the ancestral concept”said its curator, Oscar Sarhan.
Kindness photo.
The exhibition is part of a program that includes activities organized together with the Canada Council for the Arts and the OEI (Organization of Ibero-American States), which not only establish a bridge between the native cultures of South and North America, but also form part of a strategy of the National Endowment for the Arts to strengthen ties with cultural institutions in other countries.
In the sample are exposed ponchos woven in a loom, of varied colors and patterns, blankets, girdles, pectorals, pieces of pottery and jewelry, arrows and clubs carved in obsidian, in a provision that takes up significant elements for the Mapuche worldview.
The work contributes to knowing the Mapuche universe: the big meetings, their ceremonies and reflections, the respect in the forms, the dialogue and the peumas (dreams)”.
Oscar Sarhan, curator of the work.
The show brings together prominent cultural actors and visual filmmakers who have found their source of inspiration in the Mapuche identity. Using different craft techniques for making jewelry and fabrics, the ideologue and promoter of the work Gustavo Nawel proposes to highlight ancestral values.
Kindness photo.
From the National Endowment for the Arts they highlighted that “These are pieces that do not need to blend in with the objects we are used to calling art, rather, they challenge us to rethink all the categories from an ancestral worldview whose connection with what is essential has become urgent,” said Diana Saiegh, president of the FNA.
Participants: Sol Carilao, in fabrics; Matias Deyurka, in lithic art; Gustavo Nawel, Daniela Vivanco, Cristina Jara and Lilia Breyter. in goldsmithing and jewelry, and Faby Lefiman in ceramics. There are also pieces from Artesanias Neuquén.
“These works contribute to learn more about the Mapuche universe: the large meetings, their ceremonies and reflections, the respect in the forms, the dialogue and the peumas (dreams) with those who have inhabited this territory since pre-Hispanic times”, added Sarhan.
Friday, August 4, was the inauguration of the exhibition with an act headed by the Minister of Culture of the Nation, Tristán Bauer, the president of the National Endowment for the Arts, Diana Saiegh, the curator of the work and the artists participating in the exhibition and a large audience that accompanied the proposal.
They are pieces that challenge us to rethink all categories from an ancestral worldview whose connection with the essential has become urgent.
Diana Saiegh, President of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Shaken, the term that gives the exhibition its title, comes from the Mapuche language. Means silver, radiance, luminosity, shine. Thus, from its name, it raises the metaphorical meaning of “jewel”: the languages present in the pieces —ceramic, goldsmithing, weaving and lithic art— shine in that single word.
The weaving artisan Sol Carilao and the goldsmiths Cristina Jara, Gustavo Nawel and Daniela Vivanco shared their learning process in their trades, as well as the meticulous application of ancestral techniques in the creation of their pieces.
“Although in the last decade researchers and curators from the central metropolis have promoted decolonization strategies to account for forgotten aesthetics, there is still a long way to go. This exhibition has that mission: to leave a mark”, said Saiegh during the inauguration.
These creators innovatively incorporate contemporary elements, giving rise to a novel concept that is distinguished by the fusion of the traditional with the modern. This approach highlights an identity shared by all Argentines, where the convergence between cultural roots and modern expressions finds its artistic expression.
«The name is missing»: Art & Culture in DIGO:
This is the name of the space led by Oscar Sarhan in I SAYto the app of BLACK RIVER. He is an artist, communicator and cultural manager. He has always been a strong defender, promoter and promoter of art and culture in the region. He has developed extensive work in the country and abroad, recognizing and valuing the artists who shape the Patagonian scene on a daily basis.
Through his cycle in «DIGO», he shares testimonials, experiences, stories and proposals that introduce us to the universe of Art and culture and its protagonists.