“Oh Selva”
Reflections on “La Vorágine” and the manifestos of ancestry and Amazonian
resistance in contemporary Colombia.
The exhibition “Oh Selva...” invites you to a conceptual tour of the Colombian Amazon through the works of three contemporary artists and one of the most symbolic and iconic works of Latin American literature based on the echoes of the rubber exploitation of the region, the scars of colonization, and the persistent struggles for the preservation of ancestral memory and identity in an environment increasingly threatened by a civilization that resists cultural assimilation. In this case, the jungle is not only the natural setting of the narrative but a central character loaded with symbolism that reflects on the physical landscape, historical tensions, and the ecological and cultural context, specifically in the Chorrera region in the Colombian Amazon.
"Oh jungle, wife of silence, mother of solitude and mist! What evil fate left me
a prisoner in your green jail?"
This is one of the most emblematic lines of the novel La Vorágine (1924) by José Eustasio Rivera . It is a landmark of Colombian literature that denounces the brutality of rubber exploitation, the austere life in the Amazon jungle, and the arduous struggle between civilization and barbarism, between untamed nature and man's destructive forces. This concept is reflected in the title of the exhibition. This emblematic text has inspired artists Felipe Arturo, Aimema, and the film collective La Vulcanizadora to explore the themes of identity, resistance, and the symbiotic and haphazard relationship between human beings and their natural environment.
Felipe Arturo
The curatorial concept of “Oh Selva...” is based on the ideas of an Amazonian jungle full of contradictions, a place that encloses man in its immensity and brutality but which, at the same time, resists indomitably. This tension is exemplified in the work of artist Felipe Arturo, whose sculptures made from La Vorágine's books are both a tribute and a visual critique of the region's history. Arturo uses the book's materiality to reinterpret the tensions between print culture and nature. His installation invites reflection on the violence that has characterized the Amazon, from the exploitation of natural resources to the contemporary struggles for the survival of Amazonian communities and their environment. Arturo’s pieces make intelligent use of the materiality of books, evoking the fragility of knowledge and history and their capacity for resistance. In her work, the jungle is not only a place of isolation and oppression, as Rivera describes in her novel, but a site of power and ancestry, full of voices that challenge the narrative of domination and the superficial desire to control the region.
Aimema Auai: Amazonian Memory and Ancestry
The exploration of identity and collective memory is a central theme in the work of the Amazonian artist Aimema, originally from a community in La Chorrera, south of the Amazon. His installations and paintings reinterpret the historical experiences of her collective and the Amazonian diaspora through ancestral memory, transmitted verbally and sensorially by the wise men of her people. The narrative of La Vorágine resonates in Aimema's pieces, who addresses a story of resistance against exploitation, not only of resources but also of the land, indigenous communities, their traditions, and the very humanity of her ethnic group.
Aimema uses ancestral geometry, mythological iconographies, and pictorial representations that evoke the symbolism and cultural structure of the maloca. This community space is translated in his work into pictorial representations and immersive installations. The malocas, traditional structures of Amazonian communities, are not only homes but representations of the universe where the most critical social, political, and religious events take place. In Aimema's work, the maloka becomes a microcosm of resistance and cultural continuity, a space where the past and present dialogue and from where spiritual, nuclear, and historical reflections of her people are transmitted.
Aimema's relationship with La Vorágine goes beyond a literary reference. She recontextualizes the memory of exploitation and offers a personal vision in which memory is reflected through the eyes of communities violated in the name of civilization. In her work, the jungle is a colonized and exploited space that continues resiliently safeguarding the ancestral knowledge that has allowed its people to prevail.
La Vulcanizadora: The archive of cinematic resistance
The film collective La Vulcanizadora, made up of filmmakers María Rojas and Andrés Jurado, leads the dialogue between collective memory and narratives of revolution and resistance through a critical lens that mixes science fiction and expanded documentary. In the context of the exhibition “Oh Selva...,” the collective presents two films directed by members of the Okaina ethnic group, originally from the Amazon region.
The films Tarro Vacío, directed by Vitilio Iyokina Gittoma, and La Trampa, directed by Ferney Yyokina, both members of the Okaina ethnic group, present stories of struggle and survival. *Tarro Vacío* tells the story of a young Okaina-Yvuuhza as he navigates life's challenges in Bogotá, facing military rejection, urban crises, and a pandemic, triggering a journey of self-discovery and cultural revitalization. Conversely, *La Trampa* addresses the mythical relationship between the Okaina hunters and the jaguar, evoking the struggle between nature and the destructive forces that have devastated the jungle. Both works are autobiographical and offer a raw and contemporary look at the realities facing Amazonian people today.
The exhibition “Oh Selva...” pays homage to La Vorágine on the centenary of its
publication (February 1924) and uses its narrative to review and critique contemporary realities in the Amazon. The brutality and the conflict between man and nature described by Rivera are recontextualized in the works of the participating artists to address current issues such as deforestation, environmental crisis, and the marginalization of indigenous communities.
The exhibition invites the viewer to question their relationship with nature and history, to understand the jungle as a place of memory and resistance, and to recognize the voices that have been historically silenced. The Colombian Amazon rainforest, in this case, is not only a physical space but a symbol of the constant struggle for survival and dignity in a world that often sees it as an exploitable resource.
"...Let me flee, oh jungle, from your sickly shadows formed with the breath of the beings who agonized in the abandonment of your majesty."
Francisco Arévalo
