Before the dawn of language, when all utterance was Gibberish, words had no meaning; the first racial epithets Were born innocently as ancient spidery cave drawings.
Scratchy jagged lines depicting tiny insulting hand gestures; Flagellum tangents of middle fingers flipped between Protozoa and parasite, bacteria and amoeba—
Dramatic strife of microorganisms mushrooming as Intra species slurs amongst the animal kingdom increased.
The colorful bird of paradise calling a common pigeon A dull grey drone— The majestic king cobra, bold and supercilious, calling The humble garter snake a fraying thread from a bankrupt Farmers’ shirt—
The sleek nimble weasel’s smug indifference to the beauty Of the brindle patterns of big cousin wolverines’ coat— Full of potential for expressive hatred and derisive scorn, Smoldering with bad intent; the early racial epithets long Lay dormant; aging poisons fermenting, Larval words
Clustering into round, red lace doilies; a devil’s needle point.
The forbidden words waiting to be introduced into the Vocabularies of developing homo sapiens. The words Finding their true meaning only after cataclysmic world History played out—rivers of bloodshed flooding 7 continents—casualties of endless wars forming a vast Mass grave of victims and victimizers, reaching beyond Our solar system.
It was then, rising above the transient minutiae of life, The epithets were imbued with power, meaning and Context, having the wide ranging capacity to offend, Cause controversy and discord. The taboo words came of age, and men were struck Dead by lighting bolts of name calling.
Gangs of racial epithets; clusters of rolling red lace doilies Stampede like outlaw bikers or rabid hyenas, across a thin Skinned landscape as vulnerable as a newborn bunny.
The leader of the pack, King Slur, flashy flamboyant, So offensive it can’t be spoken, wears its ugly history Like a badge of honor; King Slur seizes the limelight Having the Alpha status of a fighting word, much Envied by lesser less offensive epithets with fragile Egos.
An epithets’ self worth is determined by frequency of use And maximum offense when spoken. Epithets suffer From neglect when for noble reasons they aren’t in Someones vocabulary.
Pity the wimpy slur, bland as tofu or cottage cheese, Which announces itself with a saccharine greeting Card jingle— Pity the declawed neutered slur, unable to offend, Useless as an old work horse sent to the glue factory—
Pity the obscure, antiquated slur uttered at deaf phantoms In a provincial backwater, not heard and dimly understood By the judgmental ears of a damned civilization—
Beware of epithets that get misconstrued as compliments— Beware of moldy tripe past its expiration date— Beware of sunflower seeds laced with tiny razor blades— Beware of sharks as cuddly as kittens—
If someone calls someone a bad word, and atomic bombs Are dropped all over again, take a vacation and sail to Epithet Isle where a pure slur language is spoken by Litigious masses in perpetual offense collapsing in upon Each other as they speak themselves into oblivion and King Slur is smiling and laughing at them vanish.
“The Hidden Evolution of Racial Epithets” (C) Richard Gessner 2023
Before the onslaught of fat and male pattern baldness, Richard Gessner made front page news during an April snow storm, long ago….
Richard Gessner’s fiction has been published in Air Fish: an anthology of speculative work, Rampike, Ice River, Coe Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Happy, The Act, Sein und Werden, Skidrow Penthouse, The Pannus Index, Fiction International and many other magazines. A collection, Excerpts from the Diary of a Neanderthal Dilettante & The Man in the Couch was published by Bomb Shelter Props. Gessner’s drawings and paintings have appeared in Raw Vision, Courier News, Asbury Park Press, Rampike, Skidrow Penthouse, and exhibited at Pleiades Gallery, Hamilton Street Gallery, Cry Baby Gallery, The Court Gallery and the Donald B. Palmer Museum. Richard wrote The Conduit and Other Visionary Tales of Morphing Whimsy. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
The Conduit and Other Visionary Tales of Morphing WhimsyAudible
THIS WRITING IS AN AUTHORIZED DUPLICATION WITH PERMISSION AND EXPRESSED CONSENT
Featured photo: Kaulquappen-Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. Richard Gessner
Seres perdidos Septiembre devuelve partes de mi ser perdido A dónde estarán todas las partes de mi cuerpo? En qué huella? En qué nube? Volveré a volar otra vez?
Nuestros restos Los restos de ellos aún nos miran Dónde están tus huesos? Pedro Martin Federico Victor María Alicia Dónde se fueron a morir? Dónde podré buscar y ensangrentar mis manos? Algo negro vuelve a supurar en la memoria Algo viene devuelto desde la estación del exilio.
El día de mañana Mañana moriremos cuando queramos buscar y no haya sombras ni acequias dónde enlutar la voz Solo un clavel blanco retratará tu figura desaparecida Más allá del ojo en negro Más allá del tendón cortado en dos Más allá del septiembre que humea solitario En la última carta que recibí Cuando la mirada no era suficiente ni el grito Ni la mano perdida en los barrotes oxidados. En memoria de nuestros muertos y desaparecidos en esta fecha funesta.
Writer born in Viña del Mar, Chile. Professor of language and communication at PUCV, poet and literary critic. In 2012, she published her first book, The Invisible Eyes of the Wind. She has published in renowned Chilean and foreign digital media: Babelia (Spain), Letras de Chile (Chile), Triplov and Athena de Portugal, among others. During the year 2017 she participates in the Xaleshem group with poetic texts for the surrealist anthologies: “Composing the illusion” in honor of Ludwig Zeller and “Full Moon”, in honor of Susana Wald. In 2018, she integrates the feminist anthology IXQUIC released both in Europe and in Latin America. In 2020 she participates reviewing the conversation book “Shuffle poetry, Surrealism in Latin America” by Alfonso Peña (Costa Rica), also writes a poetic prose text for the book “Arcano 16, La torre“, by the same author. Likewise, she participates in the book “120 notes of Eros. Written portraits of surrealist women” by Floriano Martins (Brazilian surrealist poet, writer, visual artist and cultural manager). In this year (2021) she publishes her second poetry book Poética de la erotica, amores y desamores by Marciano editores, Santiago. The Extraviados is her third book published by Espacio Sol Ediciones (2023)
Dibujaste una mirada muda perpendicular a la onda más leve el polvo, el concreto, la almohada ahogan la imagen pervertida de ti Estoy a punto de exterminar una idea, de convertirme en una imitación de la neblina en el vidrio.
Sahumerio
Reflejos anulan el acto hasta que olvidas mi presencia yo enciendo fuegos, derrito despojos de amor cada tanto escribo y un extraño nace del aire y puede aterrizar a pesar de mi estación forzada, el ritmo aplaza conjugaciones de un verbo que se sugiere desigual.
Vaciada
Mira antes de atravesar rumbos de la ensoñación pasan caminantes, articulan facciones rotas le sorprenden cada vez.
Recortes
Una sola ondulación contiene nuestras raíces contienen al hombre dentro lo meten en un saco y huyen, más el tiempo tiene pasajes en sus idiomas me voy a otra parte, cierro la puerta.
Imaginería
Te concibo desnudo como si fornicaras con tu reflejo ¡qué lenta desnudez ¡ ¡Qué precipicio excava mi construcción ¡ Vienes a mí a pesar de tus cuerpos vulnerados Yo profano tu vientre Me agacho a recoger cosas extraviadas el tacto enmienda mi orgía de océanos me disfrazo de caracola para alunizar contigo y nadie espera dormido en el sofá nadie corretea desnudo por estas piezas.
Writer born in Viña del Mar, Chile. Professor of language and communication at PUCV, poet and literary critic. In 2012, she published her first book, The Invisible Eyes of the Wind. She has published in renowned Chilean and foreign digital media: Babelia (Spain), Letras de Chile (Chile), Triplov and Athena de Portugal, among others. During the year 2017 she participates in the Xaleshem group with poetic texts for the surrealist anthologies: “Composing the illusion” in honor of Ludwig Zeller and “Full Moon”, in honor of Susana Wald. In 2018, she integrates the feminist anthology IXQUIC released both in Europe and in Latin America. In 2020 she participates reviewing the conversation book “Shuffle poetry, Surrealism in Latin America” by Alfonso Peña (Costa Rica), also writes a poetic prose text for the book “Arcano 16, La torre“, by the same author. Likewise, she participates in the book “120 notes of Eros. Written portraits of surrealist women” by Floriano Martins (Brazilian surrealist poet, writer, visual artist and cultural manager). In this year (2021) she publishes her second poetry book Poética de la erotica, amores y desamores by Marciano editores, Santiago. The Extraviados is her third book published by Espacio Sol Ediciones (2023)
ALL WRITING IN THIS POST IS A COPYRIGHT OF CLAUDIA VILA MOLINA. THIS AN AUTHORIZED DUPLICATION WITH PERMISSION AND EXPRESSED CONSENT FROM THE AUTHOR
Allí se ubicaron en un improvisado toldo levantado con ramas de calafate, apoyados bajo una gigantesca roca que le daba la espalda al viento que corría desde el NorEste y que traía las nubes del Atlántico.
La fogata ardió esta vez a cargo Ocetán quien no tardó en reunir material combustible para alimentar las llamas y depositar cuidadosamente sobre el suelo los hongos recolectados durante su pasada por los faldeos de la Sierra Boquerón.
Extrajo de su bolsa (mujii) los hongos y raíces que forman la dieta invernal del fueguino hongos que crecen sobre el suelo esponjoso de los pantanos donde sus raíces pequeñas se internan quedando solo visible la parte superior algo más colorida por la acción de la luz.
El sabroso shanamain, el suave y transparente Ahuichi, cubierto de pintas blancas y rojas la chahuata que crece allí en todos los árboles vivos y el lechoso chagadakaamáin que sabe muy bien asado cubierto entre las cenizas calientes del fuego.
Mientras los ojos de ella ardían en la noche Selcha hurgueteó en el componente mineral que formaba las rocas y con el pehí (cuchillo) raspó hasta dar con una veta de marcado tono rojizo que llamó su atención por la inusual extensión que ocupaba en la superficie del granito
Derritiendo luego un trozo de grasa de guanaco y separando la roca del pigmento, mezcló ambos logrando una masa colorida y viscosa que afinó machacándola en un improvisado mortero ubicado en la roca.
Untó los dedos en la pintura tibia dibujando primero en su cuerpo y luego en el de su pareja desnuda la simbología de su clan y mientras el silencio de la noche se apoderaba de ese paisaje solitario, se alimentaron bajo las estrellas, al alero de estos grandes bloques abandonados por antiguas glaciaciones sobre la inmensidad de la pampa, allí donde durante milenios la luz de la luna recortaba sus pálidas siluetas graníticas en el azul de la noche, anunciándolas mucho más inmensas y misteriosas que durante los angostos días antárticos.
Entonces sólo el aullido de algún animal nochero se hacía sentir muy lejano trazando su oscuro guión en la noche, y pronto ambos se durmieron abrazados por la naturaleza que sabiamente todo lo acoge
-DCXCI-
“Trashumancia”, poema inédito del libro “Cuando la Tierra se Acaba”, de Claudio Rodriguez Lanfranco.
born in Valparaíso in 1968. After living in Patagonia and in the United States, a product of a scholarship, his first painting exhibitions back to the nineties in Valdivia. Later he moved to Santiago and the Fifth Region, where his visual and literary work materializes in a body of work that addresses different forms of expression, such as painting and drawing, experimental and documentary video, visual poetry and muralism, with public art projects installed in Santiago, Valparaíso. As a visual artist he has exhibited his paintings in 15 solo shows and in more than 60 group shows in Chile, Europe and the United States, and his poetic texts have been published in regional, national and international poetry collections, his work being awarded in different state funds for artistic creation such as Fondart, Cntv, Fondo Carnavales Cultural Centers of Valparaíso, among others. Currently the painter lives and works between Valparaíso, Santiago and Concón, where he develops his artistic projects and teacher training, being in charge of university graduates, painting and mural workshops, becoming a teacher for generations of students and artists who have worked with him.
MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY IS A PAINTING WITHOUT ANY RUSH AND THAT HAS BEEN CREATED OVER TIME, FORMING A VISUAL ASSEMBLY STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION MADE IN PRINCIPLE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS OF MARTÍN GUSINDE AND OTHER STYLE ARCHIVES , BUT WHICH THEN WAS INSTALLED WITH ITS OWN IMAGINARY. WITH THIS WORK I ALSO PAY A DEBT TO MY HISTORY AS A PAINTER, BODY PAINTING BEING ONE OF THE THEMES THAT HAS DIAGONALLY CROSSED ALL OF MY WORK.
“MY LITTLE SELKNAM ARMY”IT IS AN EXERCISE OF REPRESENTATION THROUGH PAINTING OF THIS RITUAL PATTERN OF FUEGIAN CREATION: AN AESTHETIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUPERNATURAL AND A WAY OF UPDATING THE MYTH OF ORIGIN THROUGH A PROPOSAL FOR CONTEMPORARY CREATION THAT AT THE SAME TIME SEEKS TO RESIST FORGETTING.
-ASPECTS OF ETERNAL ADOLESCENCE-
A COUPLE OF NIGHTS AGO I LISTENED TO A SPECIALIST IN THEMES OF EMOTIONAL GROWTH -A SOCIOLOGIST I BELIEVE- TALK ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF MODERN ADOLESCENTS WITH REGARD TO THEIR INTEGRATION INTO THE ENVIRONMENT AND OTHER BEHAVIORS RELATED TO THEIR SOCIAL AND GROUP VALIDATION. QUITE KNOWLEDGEABLE ON THESE ISSUES, THE SOCIOLOGIST EXPLAINED CLEARLY REFERRING TO THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LOSS OF RITES OF PASSAGE IN CURRENT SOCIETIES, WHICH WOULD MEAN FOR THE ADOLESCENT GROUP TODAY, A STRONG DEFICIENCY IN THE SOCIAL AND PERSONAL AFFECTIVE FIELD, BY NOT HAVING NO CLEAR GENERATIONAL SIGN THAT CONFIRMS WHEN IS THAT EXACT MOMENT WHEN YOU STOP BEING A CHILD TO BECOME AN ADULT IN FULL MATURITY. THIS WOULD EXPLAIN THE SENSATION OF NOT BELONGING SOMETIMES MANIFESTED BY THE ADOLESCENT GROUP AND WOULD BE ADJUSTED IN SOME CASES,
THIS LACK OF SECURITY REGARDING THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD WOULD AFFECT ADOLESCENTS IN ALMOST ALL CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES AND WOULD BE EXTENDERED BY A SYSTEM THAT APPEARS TO IGNORE THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THESE GENERATIONAL ISSUES OR EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES OF VITAL IMPORTANCE, SUCH AS THOSE THAT THEY ANNOUNCE THE GREAT CHANGES IN THE HUMAN BEING.
TO ADOLESCENCE COMES FROM ADOLESCENCE, TIME OF AILMENTS AND CHANGES. LEAVING AWAY THE FIRST MENSTRUATION OR THE CASE OF SEXUAL INITIATION IN MEN, TRADITIONALLY MARKED BY THE LITTLE GIRL ON TURN THAT DAD CHOOSES, THERE ARE FEW OR NONE OF THE SPACES OF RITUAL TRUST THAT WE PRACTICE SERIOUSLY AS PARENTS AND SONS. IT IS PARADOXICAL THAT REACHING THE AGE OF MAJORITY IS TODAY, IN A COUNTRY THAT BOASTS OF PRIVILEGING FAMILY VALUES, TECHNICALLY NOTHING MORE THAN A MERE PROCEDURE, WHERE AT THE AGE OF 18 THE ADOLESCENT “AUTOMATICALLY” BEGINS TO CARRY A CIVIL RESPONSIBILITY THAT THEY MUST CULTIVATE . FAR FROM ANY CEREMONY, IT IS NOT CURIOUS THEN THAT FINALLY THERE ARE EVERY FEWER RITES THAT CALL US TO COME TOGETHER OPENLY, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DEATH, WHEN IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE.
FOR ANCIENT CULTURES SUCH AS THE SELKNAM, ONE OF OUR ORIGINAL AUTRAL PEOPLES, THESE CEREMONIES OR RITES OF PASSAGE WERE VERY IMPORTANT, EVEN CAUSING GREAT GENDER WARS FOR POWER AND DOMINATION OF THESE FESTIVALS, WHERE THE HOUSE WAS THROWN DOWN -O EL TOLDO- THROUGH THE WINDOW TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE KEY MOMENT THROUGH WHICH THEIR CELEBRATIONS PASSED FOR THE ONLY TIME IN LIFE.
THE HAIN CLEARLY EMERGES AS THAT SACRED CEREMONY THAT USED THEATER AND SURVIVAL REPRESENTATIONS TO TEST THE MEASURE OF THE INITIATES, PREPARING THEM FOR A PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATIONS WITHIN THE MILESTONE THAT WOULD MARK A NEW EVENT IN THE BEHAVIOR OF THE KLOKÉTEN NOVICE IN FRONT OF HIS TRIBE, WHO AT THAT MOMENT JOINTLY DECIDED THEIR PASS TO PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL MATURITY. A SACRED ACT WHICH WOULD GIVE THEIR LIVES BOTH STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE AND WHICH WOULD ALLOW THEM TO GENERATE THE TRUST WHICH THE INITIATED COULD LATER HAND ON FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE DEFINED WITH SUCH OPENNESS AND CLARITY, ALLOWED THE KLOKÉTEN TO BEGIN THE RITUAL PROCESS TO STOP BEING A CHILD AND THUS TAKE THE REINS OF ITS OWN MATURITY.
BEING AN ADULT, HOW COMPLICATED…. EVERYTHING WRITTEN IS BORN FROM ONE OF THE PICTURES OR “ FRAGMENTS”, WHICH I PAINTED YEARS AGO ON A TREE BARK (ABOVE IN THE PHOTO) AND WHERE THE SPIRIT OF HAIN MANIFESTS HOUSING IN THE PAINTED FIGURE OF AKLOKÉTEN . HERE IS REPRESENTED THE COMPLEX SYMBOLISM OF INITIAL OPPOSITION AND TRANSFORMATION BY WHICH THE KLOKÉTENHE WAS SUBJECTED INSIDE SECRET SOCIETIES THAT SEEKED TO TURN HIM INTO A MAN. THE FUSION OF A WORLD IN TRANSIT OR RITE OF PASSAGE IS INCORPORATED INTO THE PICTORICAL SIGN AND INTO THE HISTORY BROUGHT WITH IT BY THE SUPPORT, COLLECTED FOR THAT PURPOSE ON THE SLOPE OF THE VILLARRICA VOLCANO FROM THE CALCINATED REMAINS OF A CONIFER SPLIT BY LIGHTNING. JUST AS THE ANCIENTS DID TO MAKE THE RITUAL MASKS WHICH THEY USED IN THEIR CEREMONIES, I COLLECT THE BARK OF THE TREES TO PAINT THEM WITH PART OF THIS HISTORY THAT DISAPPEARS AND THAT ALSO BELONGS TO ME, BEING THE COLLECTION, A RITE THAT IS SIBLISHED TO THE PAINTING ALREADY THE TELLURIC TEXTURES OF THE EARTH, LIKE BROKEN FRAGMENTS FROM A NOT SO REMOTE PAST, AND IN WHICH WE STILL REFLECT OURSELVES.
-MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY- I
THE VARIETY OF COSTUMES THAT THE SELK’NAM USED FOR THEIR PERFORMANCES DURING THE HAIN CEREMONY, THEY ARE BASED ON A CONCEPT OF CORPORALITY CREATED TO DELIVER THEIR IDEAS REGARDING RELIGIOUSNESS AND INFLUENCES TO WHICH THEY WERE SUBJECTED SINCE THEIR ORIGINS IN A DOMINANT MATRIARCHAL SOCIETY, IN WHICH THE BODY WAS THE MAIN COMMUNICATION INSTRUMENT OF MAN . THIS CONCEPT OF IMAGE, DESIGN AND MOVING COLORS ARE KEY ELEMENTS TO UNDERSTAND THE SYMBOLIC MESSAGE OF ITS CEREMONIES. IN THIS SECRET GAME, THE WORK OF THE SPIRITS WAS TO PUNISH HARDLY THOSE WHO OPPOSED THE ORDERS OF THE WOMEN.
THE PASSAGE OF TIME WOULD BE KNOWN AS THE UPDATING OF THE MYTH -ENDING THE FEMALE DOMINANCE IN CEREMONIES- THE REVEALED MEN FOUND A NEW HUT BUILT OF ROCK WITH SEVEN STONE POSTS DRAGGED FROM THEIR NATAL COUNTRIES. FIRST WACUS STARTED , THEN PAWUS AND AFTER SANU. THEY WERE STRONG AND TALL MEN. WHEN THE FIRST THREE PILLARS WERE WELL SECURED, HE BEGAN TO RAISE HIS SATE , THEN TALEN , THEN KEYAISK AND FINALLY YOISIK . EACH ONE OF THEM STOOD UNDER THE POST HE HAD RAISED, ASSUMING THE ROLE OF THE SEVEN SUPPORTSMAIN. THESE MEN ANCESTORS IN MYTHICAL TIMES WOULD BE TRANSFORMED AFTER THEIR DEATH IN DIFFERENT BEINGS OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, ACTING AS SIGNIFICANTS IN EACH EPISODE REPRESENTED IN THE RITUAL AND ESTABLISHING AN ORDER THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE THAT THEY WOULD HAVE MAINTAINED UNTIL HISTORICAL TIMES.
EACH ONE OF THE SEVEN REGIONS OF THE SELK’NAM TERRITORY HAD A SUPPORT ACCOMPANIED BY HIS XALPEN WIFE . XALPEN WAS A FEMALE SPIRIT OF GREAT POWER FEARED BY MEN AND WOMEN WHO LIVED UNDER THE EARTH AND CALLED ON MEN TO SATISFY THEIR LUSTFUL DESIRES. “IT IS ABOUT AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, IRRITABLE, CAPRICIOUSLY UNPREDICTABLE BEING, WHICH WITH GREAT PLEASURE CAUSES MEN THE MOST DIVERSE DISCOMFORT. She alternates them to satisfy her sexual desires with them, REGARDLESS THAT UNDERGROUND, THE INITIATES OF THE KLÓKETEN ARE PERMANENTLY AVAILABLE (…) SHE IS CONSIDERED A WOMAN OF GREAT PROCREATIVE POWER AND BECAUSE OF HER ARBITRARIOUSNESS, SHE IS HATED BY WOMEN WHO HOWEVER, THEY SHOULD MAKE AN EFFORT TO CALM IT OUT OF CONSIDERATIONS TOWARDS THEIR HUSBANDS AND CHILDREN” (M.GUSINDE 1990: 908)
EACH SUPPORT THEN WAS DECORATED WITH PAINTINGS AND DESIGNS DEFINED BY TRADITION. THEIR FIGURES AND MOVEMENTS WERE CONSIDERED BY THE SELK’NAM AS MAGNIFICENT AND BEAUTIFUL, ESPECIALLY AMONG WOMEN. SANUIT WAS THE SOORTE OF THE WEST . WITH A RED BODY AND ABUNDANT WHITE DOTS ORDERED SYMMETRICALLY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BODY, IT INDICATED THE SPIRIT’S BELONGING TO A SPECIFIC CARDINAL POINT THAT COULD BE EASILY INTERPRETED BY ALL BYSTANDERS THANKS TO THE PREDOMINANCE OF COLOR. ITS BODY ORNAMENTATION PRESENTED A DEFINED DESIGN PATTERN, WHICH SEEKED TO HIGHLIGHT A TALL, SLIM, STRONG AND AGILE FIGURE, SOMETIMES REPRESENTED BY MOVEMENTS SUCH AS FLIGHT: “SHOULDERS RAISED, ARMS FOLDED AND SLIGHTLY SEPARATED FROM THE BODY, AND HANDS CLOSED IN FISTS, THE “ACTOR” REPETITATIVELY LIFTS HIS FEET, MOVES HIS HEAD ENERGETICALLY, GIVES QUICK JUMPS, STOPS AFTER EACH ONE OF THEM AND THEN MAKES THE WHOLE BODY SHAKE” .
THE SEVEN MAIN SUPPORTS WERE SYMBOLICALLY RELATED TO THE “FOUR INVISIBLE MOUNTAINS OF INFINITY”, COMBINING A HIGH-LEVEL IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF CONCEPTUAL AND AESTHETIC ABSTRACTION. SOORTE SANU CAME FROM THE WEST KÉNENIK MOUNTAIN RANGE, PLACE OF THE SUNSET OF THE SUN EXPRESSED BY THE ORIGIN OF RED AND THE TRAIL OF DEATH. REPRESENTING AN OWN CULTURAL IMAGINERY THROUGH THE PERFORMANCE OF THE RITE WAS FOR THE SELK’NAM A COMPLEX SHOW OF ANTHROPOMORPHOLIC BEINGS WHOSE MASKS AND ACTIONS REVEALED THEIR PERSONALITY, THUS HELPING TO ORDER AND UPDATE A SYMBOLIC-TERRITORIAL SPACE SUPPORTED BY ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL VALUES.
-MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY- II
IN THE YEARS OF THE HAIN MYTH, THE YOUNGER AND INEXPERIENCED MEN OCCUPY INSIDE THE CEREMONIAL, THE SITE OF THE SECONDARY SUPPORTS; AGILE AND FAST BODIES PREPARED AND DECORATED FOR DANCE WITH COLORS ONLY PARTIALLY VISIBLE TO OTHERS, THUS SHOWING THEIR SURPRISING SPEED AND BODY ENERGY. ULEM IS ONE OF THEM. HE RELATED WITH THE OTHER SOORTES THROUGH THE THREE MAIN COLORS AND HIS FENSE FOR MOVEMENT:
“THE BODY IS DARK RED AND WHITE HORIZONTAL STRIPES ARE APPLIED TO IT, LEAVING SHORT INTERMEDIATE SECTIONS”…”VERTICALLY FROM THE NECK PASSING THROUGH THE NAVEL, LOWERS A WHITE LINE. THE ULEM MASK IS MADE OF COLORED BARK LIGHTER RED WITH THREE WHITE LINES ON THE TOP”.
THIS POINT – LINE – STRIP REITERATING WITHIN THE FIELDS OF BODY DRAWING, REFERS TO THE MYTH OF THE SAME CHARACTERS: MALE SPIRITS WITH IDEAL PHYSICAL QUALITIES FOR A HUNTER-GATHERER IN THE TIME OF THE SELK’NAM SOCIETY: AGILITY, STRENGTH, SPEED AND BEAUTY.
EACH SUPPORT HAD TOTAL CREATION AUTONOMY AND BY NOT REPRESENTING A DEFINED PATTERN IN ITS DESIGN, IT WAS POSSIBLE TO RECOGNIZE EACH OF THEM BY THEIR MASKS.
ALL FIGURES WITH GREAT MOBILITY, BLENDED INTO THE BLACK ANTARCTIC NIGHTS, TRYING TO REPRESENT THE MOVEMENTS OF SOME LOCAL ANIMAL BROUGHT INTO THE FIELD OF THE CEREMONY, WITHOUT FORGETTING THAT DESPITE THEY ENJOYED GREAT FREEDOM, EACH OF THE CHARACTERIZATIONS WAS SUBORDINATED TO A PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED SCRIPT INHERITED FROM PREVIOUS GENERATIONS.
THIS SIGN OF BELONGING GAVE SENSE TO THE CYCLE OF LIFE, AND EACH YOUNG INITIATE WHO UNDERTAKEN THE RITUAL UNDERSTANDED IT SO. ULEM IS PART OF SOME 100 FIGURES PAINTED ON COIGÜE PLATE THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THE POLYPTHYTHY MURAL “MY LITTLE SELKNAM ARMY” .
-MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY- III
ACID LIKE A PAINTING COMPOSED OF SEVERAL PIECES THAT TOGETHER MAKE UP A MAJOR WORK, “MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY” IS A POLYPTIC MURAL OF FIGURES IN OIL AND MIXED TECHNIQUES ON COIGUE AND MAÑÍO PLATES THAT I BEGAN TO PAINT IN 1998 AND WHICH I CONTINUE TO PAINTING UNTIL TODAY AS AN EXERCISE OF CREATION ON TRAVEL, CARRIED OUT DURING MY TEMPORARY TRANSIT THROUGH DIFFERENT PLACES IN CHILE SUCH AS THE ANDES MOUNTAINS, THE SOUTHERN CANALS, PATAGONIA OR THE ROUGH ARIDITY OF THE NORTHERN COASTS, TRAVELING ON SOLO EXPEDITIONS OVER THE DECK OF BOATS, BUS SEATS, LOANED CARS, MICROS OR PLANES; RESTING IN HOTELS, SHELTERS OR TENTS, WORKING AND WALKING IN WHICH ARE UP TO NOW 120 FIGURES OF BODY PAINTED IN A SIZE OF 16 X 10 CMS EACH AND WHICH FORM AS A WHOLE,
BODY PAINTING OF REAL AND INVENTED BEINGS, IMAGINED, TORN FROM THE BORDERS OF DEATH (AND OBLIVION) IN A FORMAT OF RITUAL REPRESENTATION THAT THE ANCIENTS KEPT UNTIL THE ARRIVAL OF THE WHITE MAN AS A CEREMONY OF PASSAGE FOR THE NEW GENERATIONS OF INITIATES.
THIS IS THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, MY TERRACOTTA ESCORT. A GUARD OF MOCETONES MADE OF MUD AND FUNERAL WOOD THAT STAND UP AMONG THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE LIKE A MASTER BEAM THAT SPEAKS TO US WITH THE SILENCE OF THE EXHUMEED BODIES, THAT ADVENTURE OF NAMELESS GRAVES, EMPTY BASINS AND TRACES MISSING LIKE RUBBLE BURIED AMONG THE branches.
THE PETROGLYPHS OF THE CHOAPA VALLEY- TWOIN THE PATH
THE REGION BETWEEN THE ILLAPEL AND CHOAPA RIVERS CORRESPONDS TO THE SOUTH/EAST EXTREME OF THE PROVINCE OF THE SAME NAME, IN THE IV REGION OF CHILE. IT IS ALSO THE SOUTHERN LIMIT OF THE NORTE CHICO, A GEOGRAPHICAL AND CLIMATE TRANSITION ZONE TO THE ABSOLUTE ARIDITY OF THE NORTE GRANDE.
CROSSED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF TRANSVERSE VALLEYS, THIS REGION IS THE NARROWEST IN CHILE -90 KM WIDTH FROM THE SEA TO THE CORDILLERA- WHICH MAKES IT A USUAL HUMAN TRACK SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL. FULL OF MOUNTAIN PASSES THAT CROSS THE ANDES AT VERY LOW ALTITUDE, IT HAS BEEN A PLACE OF PERMANENT MOVEMENT OF HUMAN POPULATIONS SINCE PRE-HISPANIC TIMES. UNTIL TODAY IT IS COMMON TO SEE MUTLEEERS WITH CARAVANS OF MULES TRAVELING THE BEAUTIFUL FOOTPRINT THAT WINDS DRAWING THE NARROW VALLEY THAT FOLLOWS THE COURSE OF THE ILLAPEL RIVER, OR THROUGH THE FERTILE CAUCE OF THE CHOAPA, WHICH OFFERS A GOOD AMOUNT OF NATURAL VIEWPOINTS FROM WHICH THE ANCIENT HAD A PERFECT PANORAMIC OF THE VALLEY.
FOLLOWING A BRANCH OF THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO THE CAVILOLÉN SLOPE, WE GO INTO AN AREA FULL OF FERTILE TRANSVERSAL VALLEYS INHABITED BY MAN FOR MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND YEARS.
PLACE OF ORIGIN OF STRONG POPULAR MYTHS, TODAY WE TRY TO TRAVEL THROUGH THESE ROADS, AS A WAY TO REMAKE PART OF THE ANCIENT TRACES OCCUPIED BY THE NOMADIC SHEPHERDS AND AS POSSIBLE TO DISCOVER THE MYSTERIOUS REASON THAT MOTIVATED THESE MEN TO MARK THEIR PASSAGE THROUGH THESE PLACES , THROUGH THE STONE INSCRIPTION OF ROCK ART.
WE LEAVE THE CITY OF ILLAPEL BEHIND, TO PASS THROUGH THE MYSTERIOUS SALAMANCA -NATIONAL CAPITAL OF IMBUNCHE- AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE CHOAPA RIVER TO ITS ORIGIN, SOMETHING SOUTHEAST OF CUNCUMEN, OUR FIRST STOP.
NIGHT FALLS SLOWLY OVER THE GENTLE SLOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS, FROM WHERE THE CACTI RISE LIKE ANCIENT LOOTCH-OUTS OUTLINED AGAINST THE FADING COLOR OF THE SKIES.
THE WIND SLOWS DOWN AND A STRONG SILENCE APPEARS SPEEDING UP FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE EARTH, WHILE WE INSTALL OUR TENTS AND DREAM THAT ON FULL MOON NIGHTS, WITCHES WILL FLY OUT TO THEIR COVENS WHILE POETS WILL WRITE WITH A BONE PUNCH IN THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF A BLACK GOAT.
THRESHOLDS
“THRESHOLD IS THAT BRIDGE THAT IS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN ONE PLACE AND ANOTHER, THAT (IN)VISIBLE PATH OR LIMIT THAT SEPARATES THEM, IS THE MINIMUM SIGN, SKIN, TEXTURE OR MATTER, FIRST STEP OR ENTRANCE FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN, OPEN DOOR IN FRONT OF THE THE ABYSS OF A NON-EXISTENT SPACE WHICH IS ALSO THE WORLD OF PAINTING, WHICH MOVES, WHICH MUTS, WHICH CHANGES, WHICH DISAPPEARES; THRESHOLD IS THE FRONTIER AND THE REVERSE OF THINGS, IT IS AT THE SAME TIME THE BEGINNING AND THE END, ORIGIN AND DESTINATION, ENTRY AND EXIT; THRESHOLD IS PAINTING AT THE SPEED OF A NERVOUS IMPULSE STIMULATING UNKNOWN SPACES, EXPLORING A NON-PLACE AND FINDING THE PERMANENT FACES OF ITS ABSENCE IN IT.”
“THRESHOLDS”,SERIES OF 15 PAINTINGS, TWO SHOWN, IN MIXED TECHNIQUE ON COUCHÉ PAPER, 40 X 40 CMS EACH, MADE BETWEEN MY WORKSHOPS OF “LAS ANIMAS” IN VALDIVIA AND “RIO ACONCAGUA” IN CONCON, ON THE EDGE OF THE XXI CENTURY.
born in Valparaíso in 1968. After living in Patagonia and in United States product of a scholarship, his first painting exhibitions were date back to the nineties in Valdivia. Later he moved to Santiago and the Fifth Region, where his visual and literary work materializes in a body of work that addresses different forms of expression, such as painting and drawing, experimental and documentary video, visual poetry and muralism, with public art projects installed in Santiago, Valparaíso. As a visual artist he has exhibited his paintings in 15 solo shows and in more than 60 group shows in Chile, Europe and the United States, and his poetic texts have been published in regional, national and international poetry collections, his work being awarded in different state funds for artistic creation such as Fondart, Cntv, Fondo Carnavales Cultural Centers of Valparaíso, among others. Currently the painter lives and works between Valparaíso, Santiago and Concón, where he develops his artistic projects and teacher training, being in charge of university graduates, painting and mural workshops, becoming a teacher for generations of students and artists who have worked with him.
A DAY LIKE TODAY I WAKE UP WITH CERTAIN ANGUISH IN THE SOUL A DAY LIKE TODAY ALFREDO JAAR WINS THE NATIONAL AWARD OF PLASTIC ARTS, A DAY LIKE TODAY 1200 YOUNG PEOPLE FORM A CHAIN OF BODIES LYING IN THE ALAMEDA, A DAY LIKE TODAY I WRITE THIS POEM, A DAY LIKE TODAY THE MECHANICS OF THE AIR FORCE ADJUST THE MISSILES OF THE HAWKER HUNTERS WITH WHAT TOMORROW AT THIS SAME HOUR THEY WILL BE BOMBING THE CURRENCY
“SELK´NAM DEJANEIRO”, ATRÁS PODE VER A PEDRA DOS DOIS IRMAOS E A PARTE NORTE DA FAVELA ROCINHA. DA SÉRIE “MEU PEQUENO EXÉRCITO SELK’NAM”, PROJETO RIO DE JANEIRO / IPANEMA, FEVEREIRO DE 2023.-
THE MARKED STONES (POEM)
AN EGG OR A LONELY CIRCLE DISINTEGRATING INTO ATOMS TWO EGGS OR THE STONE ABACUS METRIC NUMERICAL SYSTEM – DECIMAL NOW BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY HALLUCINATORY EXPERIENCES…. THE SILENCE OF THE STONE IS THE LANGUAGE. A CIRCULAR INCORSION OF THRESHOLDS THAT OPEN AND CLOSE THAT ENTER AND EXIT LIKE TRAVELING IN TIME MAGNETIC SILENCE OF SIGNS THAT DETACH FROM THE STONESSTRANGE MONUMENTAL FIGURESSOMETIMES FIGURES THAT CHANGEBY JUMPING IN PIECESLIKE A SCIENCE FICTION TREATISE OR SATELLITES THAT GRAVITATE AROUND THE POINT OF A KNIFE AND FLOAT ABOVE THE ROCKS THAT HAVE SPRINTED OUT OF THE EARTH LIKE POWERFUL AND REBEL RUBBLE THAT HAS SEEN THE CENTURIES GO BY WITH THE RAPIDITY OF A SECOND. HUNTING SCENES IN LOS MELLIZOS…. WHAT IF WHEN YOU SEE THESE SCARS ETCHED LIKE STRETCH MARKS IN THE ROCK YOU WANT TO DO THE SAME? AND IF AT THE RISK OF DISCOVERING-YOU GET LOST?
–“KLOKETÉN TREPANDO EL FUERTE DUQUE DE CAXIAS“, DE LA SERIE “MI PEQUEÑO EJÉRCITO SELK’NAM”, PROYECTO RÍO DE JANEIRO / PRAIA DO LEME, FEBRERO 2023.-
-NATURAL SCENE- (STORY)-
Kaweskars! – shouted the technician leaning next to the camera tripod.
The man looked at the Director and saw how the guy quickly adjusted the lens ring to a more open diaphragm than normal, in order to capture the scene in its full magnitude. The Cameraman scratched his beard. They had been isolated three months ago in a lost location in the middle of the southern Patagonian archipelagos, waiting for that moment. – Kaweskars…- he murmured almost silently as he began to roll, and from the old woman’s lips emanated a song like a moan:
KAS _ TAP _ HAR AR _ LAW KET YERKSTA KA _ YOE _ SA YERK _ STA KA_YOE_SA
The Camera man held the face of the old woman who was singing in the foreground, confused by the smoke. The picture was impressive: of medium height and painted a dark reddish color, the old woman sported a large belly and short hair to her ears. Around her neck she wore a necklace of Snail Shells that hung between her breasts and on her back a Sea Wolf skin tied under her throat by a gut rope. The rest of her body was naked. She was -without a doubt- the matriarch of the toldero.
For a while, both Documentalists surveyed the scene. The script couldn’t be more exact: they called the technician to correct the sound and point the rod towards the woman who was at the center of the action. ORn white smoke rose on the beach, grouping in tall fumaroles…
I am the Voice of the Southern Sky That brings winter and the narrow Austral day… Huge shadows that rise in the Night Wherever it lives Ayayema! Spirit of Noise that snores between Mountains and Glaciers, Half Human crying, Half Beast cry He brings the Wind that overturns the canoes…..
It was one of those short days in Tierra Del Fuego and the echo of nomadic songs it made itself felt bouncing in the distant canyons. As the scene progresses, the credits of the production team begin to appear one by one.
AND it starts to get dark The Director crumples the script in his hands and curses, thankful for such disturbing accuracy.
TRIP TO THE CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO- (POEM)
OUR ANCIENTS, THE FATHERS OF THE ORAL TRADITION, RELATE THAT BACK IN THE BEGINNING WHEN THE ICE COVERED ALL THE LANDS AND A GOOD PART OF THE SEA A GROUP OF CANOES APPEARED, NO MORE THAN FIVE WERE WITH OUR GRANDPARENTS HUNTERS AND THEIR WIVES AND SOME CHILDREN. THEY ADVANCED TO THE SOUTH WHERE THE THICK MANTLES OF ICE BEGAN TO LEAVE THE LANDSCAPE FREE, WITHDRAWING AND SHAPING VALLEYS AND WILD MOUNTAINS A VISION OF LANDS THAT EMERGED FROM THE SEA TO FORM BAYS AND FJORDS, A DISMEMBERED RELIEF OF ISLANDS AND CHANNELS DRAWN BY THE ICES BY THE ADVANCE AND RECEDING OCEANS STRONG INLAND CURRENTS WHICH FRAGMENT THE COAST OF THE ARCHIPELAGO INTO AN IMPRESSIVE LABYRINTH AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
HERE IN THESE PLACES OUR ANCESTORS WALKED THE FROZEN BANKS AND REMAINED TO LIVE UNDER THE WESTERN SKY THIS IS HOW THEIR FIRST CHILDREN SPEAK, REPEATING ANCIENT VOICES THUS THEY TELL, FROM VERY ANCIENT THOSE WHO BROUGHT THE INHERITANCE OF THE SPIRITS AND CAME TO WHAT TO LIVE WITH THE LIGHTNING, WITH THE PILLÁN THE SPIRIT OF THE NATURAL FORCES. BETWEEN ISLANDS AND CHANNELS, COMPACT AND TORTOUS FORESTS WE HAVE INSTALLED OUR AWNINGS LEARNED TO HANDLE THE CYPRESS WOOD
TO BUILD OUR CANOES WITH THE POWER OF FIRE AND SHELLS.
HERE WE HAVE SAILED BRINGING THE FIRE, OUR FAMILIES ALWAYS SAILING IN THE WAKE OF THE WHALE , THE SEA WOLF IN THE FOOTPRINT OF THE HUEMUL OR THE OTTER HUNTING WITH A BONE HARPOON AND OUR FISHING DOGS.
WE KNOW THE BODY OF THE LARCH, THE TEPÚ AND THE CANELO THE HARDNESS OF THE LUMA FROM WHICH WE MAKE SPEARS AND YETAKANAS THAT WE TIE WITH WHALE BEEF.
HERE WE HAVE LIGHTED THE FIRES WITH FLINTS AND DANCED NAKED UNDER THE STARS, DISCOVERING THE RED EARTH OF THE ARCHIPELAGOS TO DYE OUR BODIES AND SEAL GREASE TO PROTECT US FROM THE COLD.
OUR WOMEN WEAVE THEIR FISHING NETS SPINNING THE BASKET OF THE QUANTÚ AND WASH THEIR HAIRS WITH THE BARK OF THE QUILLAY, THE JUNE THAT IS BORN IN THE SWAMPS MAKE THEIR BASKETS WITH WHICH THEY DIVE THROUGH THE CANALS, TAKING URCHINS AND MUSHROOMS
ALL KINDS OF FISH AND SEAFOOD FROM THE TRANSPARENT BOTTOM ALL OUR WOMEN SWIM NAKED THROUGH THE FROSTY WATERS OF THE CANAL AND THEN THEY SHRINK IN THE HEAT OF THE CAMPFIRE.
WE DO ALL THIS IN THE PLACE WHERE THE WILD RIVERS FALL INTO THE SEA WE NAVIGATE OUR CANOES DAY OR NIGHT WE LOOK FOR SHELTER ON A STONE ROCK OR ON AN ICE ISLAND AND WHEN THE SOUTHERN NIGHT FALLS HEAVY AND SILENT WE JOIN THE HEAT OF THE CAMPFIRES TO LISTEN TO THE BREATH OF OUR ANCESTORS STORIES OF SPIRITS THAT INTERVENE IN LIFE THROUGH AUME AND THAT ONLY OUR SHAMANS KNOW, THUS DISCOVERING THE HIDDEN MEANING OF THINGS…
(SHAMAN)
LISTEN TO MY VOICE THAT SPEAKS THROUGH ALL THE SACRED VOICES THE VOICE OF THE ALBATROSS / CORMORANT LISTEN TO MY VOICE AS IT SOARS IN A SONG THAT SPITS OUT OF MOUNTAIN RANGE AND VOLCANOES A ROCK ISLE / AN ENTIRE ARCHIPELAGO LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE FOUR HEAVENS ….
-SONG TO THE HEAVENS- I AM THE SKY FROM THE EASTERN THAT BRINGS THE MAGIC STONES, THE FLINT AND THE VOICE OF THE TUCUQUERE THAT STANDS CHALLENGINGLY UPON THE HIGH BRANCHES OF THE OAKS, LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE WIND THAT BLOWS FROM THE PLACE WHERE THE SUN IS BORN AND ALL THE POWERS CAPABLE OF ENSURE LIFE, WHERE THE IMBUNCHE LIVES THAT EATS AND FORNICATES.
LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE NORTH SKY THAT BRINGS THE ANCIENT EARTH SONGS THE VOICE OF THE ALBATROSS THAT FLOWS RIGHT FROM THE CENTER OF MEMORY, ANNOUNCES THE HUNTING TIMES THERE IS ITS DEEP SQUAWK OF A SEA BIRD THAT TEACHES HOW TO READ THE STARS, IN HIS DRY HEAD THE SHAMAN TRAVELS LIKE A STONE OF LIGHTNING AND IS DROPPED FROM THE SKIES TO BRING US THE INHERITANCE OF THE SOUND OF HIS FEATHERS WE MAKE ORNAMENTS FOR THE ARMS AND INHERIT HIS SIGHT, SPEED AND ENDURANCE.
I AM THE VOICE OF THE SOUTH SKY THAT BRINGS THE WINTER AND THE NARROW SOUTHERN DAY HUGE SHADOWS THAT RISE AT NIGHT WHERE AYAYEMA LIVES
THE SPIRIT OF THE NOISE THAT SNORES AMONG MOUNTAINS AND GLACIERS THAT WALKS IN THE THICKNESS OF THE FOREST AND THE SWAMP HALF WEEPING HUMAN, HALF THE CRY OF A BEAST THAT OVERTURNS THE CANOES CLIMBING THE WATER OF THE WATERFALLS BRINGING THE BAD WEATHER THAT WE HAVE LEARNED TO SEEIN THE PASSAGE OF A FLOCK OF PARROTSTHAT WE HAVE FIGHTED BY BURNING A WOLF’S TEETHAND MAKING THEIR ASHES INTO THE SEA. THERE COMES THE RED CLAY AND THE MINERAL EART
WITH WHICH WE LEARNED THE COLORS OF NATURE AND DECORATE OUR BODIES FOR HUNTING, LOVE AND CEREMONIES.
THE SOUTH BRINGS THE VOICE OF THE WHALES….
(SHAMAN IN TRANCE)
LISTEN TO THEIR SONG INVOKING THE BEINGS! WE SING AND DANCE IMITATING THE SONG OF THE WHALE DRINKING ITS THICK AND STRONG MILK GETTING DRUNK WITH THE FERMENTED FRUIT OF CANELO OUR NAKED SEXES POINT TO THE WIND WHEN THE COLD AND LUMINOUS SOUTHERN DAWN SURPRISES US .
THEN OUR FACES FOLLOW THE ADVANCE OF THE HEAVENS AND WE LEARN THAT DREAM IS THE PASS THROUGH WHICH THE DEAD ENTER THE WORLD OF THE LIVING.
LISTEN TO THE PULSE OF THE EARTH!
THE SENSATION OF BEING ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS IS SO KNOW BY OUR DEAD BURIED IN SACRED PLACES WRAPPED IN SEAL LEATHER AND ABANDONED TO THE WANDS…
LISTEN TO THE WESTERN SKY ITS VOICE OF OCEAN WHERE CANOES DIVE INTO DEEP WATERS , WHERE TEMPILCAHUÉ TRANSPORTS THE DEAD, HE IS THE RAILWAY OF THE SOULS WHERE THE SUN DIES HE LEADS THE JOURNEY TOWARDS THE SILENCE OF A WHITE ISLAND, IN HIS HANDS WE WILL REST FROM OUR JOURNEY ON EARTH.
(SHAMAN IN TRANCE)
LOOK AT HOW THE CORMORANT FLYES! OUR NECK AND ESOPHAGUS BIRD MUSICAL SOUND THAT WILL CARRY EVERY MAN LIKE AN ISLAND LOST IN THE IMMENSITY OF THE OCEAN. LOOK FROM WHERE THE RAIN CLOUDS THAT SHADE THE
COAST ARE BORN FROM! HOW THEY COME DOWN DARK AND LOW ! LOOK AT HOW OUR CANOES CLIMB IN THE SMALL! , AVOIDING ROCKY ISLANDS AND HUGE PIKES OF ICE THAT FALL INTO THE SEA…
WE CHONOS WILL CROSS THE THICK SEA UNTIL WE FIND A PLACE TO REST HERE WHERE THE WORLD ENDS HERE WHERE THE SEA BEGINS WHERE THE EARTH GETS SMALLER AND SMALLER LIKE A SEAGULL’S EGG AND SURPRISES US IN A DEEP SLEEP SMOKING THE PIPES OF OLD AGE.
“TRIP TO THE CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO”, A POEM BY CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ LANFRANCO, WAS TAKEN IN THE YEAR 2001 TO THE DOCUMENTARY VIDEO FORMAT FOR THE TELEVISION SERIES “WHEN THE EARTH ENDS”. THE IMAGES THAT ACCOMPANY THIS POEM ARE PART OF THAT FILM.
JUEGO DE NAIPES SERIE DE DIBUJOS RECIÉN TERMINADO. LÁPIZ Y TÉMPERA SOBRE CARTÓN PREPARADO, MEDIDAS VARIABLES. VALPARAÍSO, 2022.
-THE PETROGLYPHS OF THE CHOAPA VALLEY- (PART V and FINAL)
BROKEN THE TWINS: SPEECH AND REALITY.
THE COURSE OF THE ILLAPEL RIVER AND THE RUSTIC STONE PIRCAS MARK THE SOLITUDE OF LA HUELLA. THE LOMA DE LOS CERROS LEADS TO THE NARROW CRANKS IN THE CORDILLERAS WHERE THE CARAVANS OF MULES WIND ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS AND THE SKILLFUL HAND OF THE MULETEER BLENDS WITH THE ROUTE, WHICH IS ALMOST LIKE A RITUAL. THE TRACK GOES UP, GOES DOWN AND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE QUEBRADA THE MULETEER LEAVES THE ROUTINE OF THE ROAD FOR A WHILE TO TAKE HIS ANIMALS TO DRINK NEXT TO THE MULES OF OTHER CARAVANS, WHO HAVE ALSO STOPPED LOOKING FOR REST AND COMPANY.
WALKING THE PASSES IN THE CORDILLERAS WHERE THE HILLS NARROW NEXT TO THE EDGE OF THE HEIGHT AND THE ORIGIN OF THE ILLAPEL RIVER WETS THE DRIED LIPS OF THE EARTH. CONTINUE THERE, CLOSE TO THE DUSTY TRACK WHERE LITTLE BY LITTLE GROUPS OF GOOD SIZED STONES INDICATE A CHANGE IN THE LANDSCAPE: THE VALLEY IS NOW A GREEN WOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ERODED PRE-CORDILLERAS WALLS THAT JEALOUSLY GUARD LIFE AND ALSO THE STEPS OF THE MAN.
MILKING THE RIVER AND RANDOMLY DISPOSED BY NATURAL LANDSLIDES OF ANCIENT MOUNTAINS, HUGE BLOCKS OF ROCK RISE OUT OF THE EARTH FORMING A PREHISTORIC PLAIN KNOWN AS THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF “LOS MELLIZOS”. THE WOMB OF THE ANDES OPENS INTO A CEREMONIAL SPACE WHERE MAN HAS MARKED HIS PASSAGE SINCE THE EARLY POTTERY PERIOD IN AN EXTENSION OF 500 X 300 MTS INTERVENED WITH THE SPACE UNCERTAINTY OF HUNDREDS OF PETROGLYPHS DISTRIBUTED IN 97 ROCK PANELS AND THE ONLY PICTOGRAPH FROM THE VALLEY.
RECOGNIZED AS A PLACE OF TRANSIT WITH 10 MOUNTAIN PASSES THAT LEAD TO THE INTERANDINE VALLEYS, THE “LOS MELLIZOS” SITE WAS A GRAZING PLACE SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL. THIS CONSTANT RE-OCCUPATION OF THE PLACE TRANSFORMS IT INTO A NON-PLACE, SYMBOLIC FACT AND POINT OF CONTACT, -ENTRY AND EXIT- BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT SPACES.
THREE BY THREE IS NINE: 1 FOOTPRINT OR PATH 3 TENTS (ONE MADE OF ROCK) 3 TREES (ON THE RIVER BANK) 3 MARIAS (CONSTELLATED STARS)
HERE IS OUR CAMP, UNDERSTOOD AS A NEW REOCCUPATION OF THIS NO-PLACE WHERE ROCK ART AND SPACE DEFINE EACH OTHER.
THE PETROGLYPHS PLACED IN THE ROCK AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE VALLEY ARE PART OF A LANDSCAPE WHERE THE STONE IS A SUPPORT AND A MESSAGE, CONCEIVED WITH A SPACE PURPOSE. THIS MONUMENTALITY GIVEN TO THE PLACE BY ITS PETROGLYPHS IMMERSES THIS PARTICULAR SPACE IN SIGNIFICANCE.
AND THE LOS MELLIZOS SITE BECOMES A RITUAL SPACE, IMPORTANT FOR TRANSIT FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER AS A PASSAGE, AN INVISIBLE DOOR BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS.
WHAT DO THESE PETROGLYPHS SAY, THESE SCRATCHES IN THE STONE?
THE PASSAGE OF THE SUN LIGHTS UP THE VALLEY AND HELP THE ROCKS SHOW THEIR MONUMENTAL FIGURES, IDEOGRAMS THAT APPEAR AND DISAPPEAR DEPENDING ON THE POSITION OF THE CLOUDS, THE LIGHTNING OF THE SUN, AS WELL AS STARS IN BROAD LIGHT OF THE DAY.
A MAGNETIC SILENCE FLOODES THE PLACE, AS IF PERMANENT SIGNS WERE SPROUTING FROM THE STONES LIKE VOWELS OF AN INFINITE ABC THAT SPELLS NAMES, FACTS, PLACES FROM OTHER TIMES. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF YOUR RECORDED INSCRIPTION
? I
THE INCOGNITA DE LA PIEDRA HIDES A LANGUAGE CARRYING SIGNS RECORDED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST AND WHICH REIGN IN “EL VAGAMUNDO” LIKE THE STONE BABBLING OF SOME DEAD LANGUAGE. WHAT DO THESE STONES MARKED BY MAN TELL US ABOUT
? WHAT DO THEY HIDE FROM US, WHAT DO THEY TELL US, WHAT WILL THEY TELL US? THE PETROGLYPHS ARE THERE TO REMIND US THAT WE HAVE PENDING THINGS WITH OUR PAST, AND THEY GRAVITATE IN “LOS MELLIZOS”, LIKE THE CHALLENGE OF A GHOST THAT DOES NOT THINK TO GO.
“THE PETROGLYPHS OF THE CHOAPA VALLEY” (PARTS IA TO V) ARE FRAGMENTS OF A POETIC JOURNEY CARRIED OUT TO DIFFERENT POINTS IN THE CHOAPA AREA AND IN PARTICULAR TO THE SITE OF LOS MELLIZOS, LOCATED UP THE RIVER OF ILLAPEL. WE CAMPED THERE TWO DAYS AND THEIR NIGHTS. A VIDEO OF THE JOURNEY TO THE SITE WAS RECORDED: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE PETROGLYPHS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE VALLEY. IT WAS 2004. A FIRST VERSION OF THESE TEXTS WAS WRITTEN ON THE SITE AND THEN FINISHED IN CONCÓN, DURING THE SUMMER OF THAT SAME YEAR.“
TRÓPICO DE FUEGO DIÁLOGOS COLABORATIVOS ENTRE NATURALEZA Y ARTE. INSTALACIÓN TEMPORAL EN EL JARDIM BOTÂNICO DO RIO DE JANEIRO. PINTURAS DE LA SERIE MI PEQUEÑO EJÉRCITO SELK´NAM, PROYECTO RÍO DE JANEIRO 2023.
-ANTIPODES-
LEAVE THE WORKSHOP, LEAVE YOUR HOUSE HEADING NORTH TO MEET OTHER PLACES, TRAVEL FAR TO OPEN PLACES HOPE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE. GOING UP THE ROUTE 5 HUNDRED KILOMETERS UP THE SHORE, DOZENS OF OYSTERS BUZZ ALONG THE ROAD, THEY GO PASSING, THEY SIGN TO US.
BECOMING A LITTLE NOMAD AND ON THE RADIO, A LITTLE SONG FROM PAT METHENY OR THE POLICE.
I REMEMBER TOTORALILLO BEACH IN THE SUMMER OF 2004, WHEN WE WENT TO THE LONG WAVES PENINSULA, WHERE MANY GROUPED TO SURF WHILE WE SAT TO WATCH THE SEA, AND IN FRONT OF THE WAVES DRINK BEER ON A HORIZON OF HUGE STONE BLOCKS . OR THAT TIME IN PUNTA CHOROS WHEN THE WIND WAS RELENTLESS AND HOWLED ALL NIGHT NEXT TO THE ROUGH SEA, TODAY RECORDED ON A HOME VIDEO.
PSCAR A TENT, YOUR KNIFE AND PUT AN IMPOSSIBLE ROUTE.
THROWING UP THE ROAD, OPENING UP TO LANDSCAPES AS DIFFERENT AS VALLEYS, HILLS, DUNES, FACES, HANDS, SEAFOOD OR SANDY CLIFFS; AND LET YOURSELF BE CARRIED BY THE FINDINGS, AS VALUABLE SIGNS. FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCT, ERASE ALL TRACES AND GET LOST IN THE HOT SUMMER STEAM.
LEAVE THE WORKSHOP AND TRAVEL, CROSSING A MAP THAT DISAPPEARS.
FRAGMENTOS DEL TALLER HARRINGTON, MI ACTUAL ESTUDIO EN UNA CASONA DE 1906. VALPARAÍSO INVIERNO 2023
CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ LANFRANCO
born in Valparaíso in 1968. After living in Patagonia and in United States product of a scholarship, his first painting exhibitions were date back to the nineties in Valdivia. Later he moved to Santiago and the Fifth Region, where his visual and literary work materializes in a body of work that addresses different forms of expression, such as painting and drawing, experimental and documentary video, visual poetry and muralism, with public art projects installed in Santiago, Valparaíso. As a visual artist he has exhibited his paintings in 15 solo shows and in more than 60 group shows in Chile, Europe and the United States, and his poetic texts have been published in regional, national and international poetry collections, his work being awarded in different state funds for artistic creation such as Fondart, Cntv, Fondo Carnavales Cultural Centers of Valparaíso, among others. Currently the painter lives and works between Valparaíso, Santiago and Concón, where he develops his artistic projects and teacher training, being in charge of university graduates, painting and mural workshops, becoming a teacher for generations of students and artists who have worked with him.
Internationally recognized author and lecturer specializing in the use of entheogenic compounds in magico-religious settings. P. D. Newman has been immersed in the study and practice of alchemy and theurgy for more than two decades. A member of the Masonic Fraternity, the Society of Rosicrucians, and the Martinist Order, he lectures internationally and has published articles in many esoteric journals, including The Scottish Rite Journal, The Masonic Society Journal, and Invisible College. The author of Alchemically Stoned and Angels in Vermilion, he lives in Tupelo, Mississippi.
An altar constitutes a sacred space insofar as it is a deliberately constructed liminal space. A space is made sacred first and foremost through the creation and maintenance of a vacuum within it—it is the mystical act of reverting an area back to its natural, chaotic state. What is then invited to fill this void constitutes the divine FIAT—the magic “word” whose essence will thenceforth inform that space and all that transpires in it. Ergo, nothing is permitted to penetrate that void which is not in harmony with essence of the god. Those things that are harmonious with a given essence are termed ‘symbols’ and ‘tokens’ of that essence. These do not simply represent or correspond to the god, but rather constitute the deity himself in miniature form—a fractal-like manifestation of that essence which recapitulates and reiterates the totality of the god upon the microcosmic plane.
The Neoplatonist, Proclus, once stated that Soul “contains images of [things] and detailed, essential [seed forms] which are like statues of things themselves.” Even the names of things, therefore, arise from Soul and amount to veritable ‘statues in sound’ that really are the things described. If the name of the god is a presence of said deity, how much more an actual image? The profane view is that the worshipper believes the god to reside within the statue gracing the altar. This is absurd. No, the statue is in the god, as are all the symbols and tokens descending from his essence. Indeed, gods are beyond space. In reality, it is the altar that occupies the god.
Image courtesy with the kind permission fromP.D. Newman
Claudia Isabel Vila Molina
born in Viña del Mar, Chile. Professor of language and communication at PUCV, poet and literary critic. In 2012, she published her first book, The Invisible Eyes of the Wind. She has published in renowned Chilean and foreign digital media: Babelia (Spain), Letras de Chile (Chile), Triplov and Athena de Portugal, among others. During the year 2017 she participates in the Xaleshem group with poetic texts for the surrealist anthologies: “Composing the illusion” in honor of Ludwig Zeller and “Full Moon”, in honor of Susana Wald. In 2018, she integrates the feminist anthology IXQUIC released both in Europe and in Latin America. In 2020 she participates reviewing the conversation book “Shuffle poetry, Surrealism in Latin America” by Alfonso Peña (Costa Rica), also writes a poetic prose text for the book “Arcano 16, La torre“, by the same author. Likewise, she participates in the book “120 notes of Eros. Written portraits of surrealist women” by Floriano Martins (Brazilian surrealist poet, writer, visual artist and cultural manager). In this year (2021) she publishes her second poetry book Poética de la erotica, amores y desamores by Marciano editores, Santiago.
Rituales poéticos
El corazón me sabe a pañuelos mojados Hoy escucho la canción de los océanos Y alguien más viene a mirarme Las algas suben por mis pies hacia las últimas rocas En este elemento volví a imitar los arrecifes Ellos callaban Me miraban tiernamente Como solo miran quienes están en estado perpetuo Y quise salir fuera de mi nombre Quise volar desde las ataduras de mi cuerpo La noche no halló sus otros puñales Y me concedió un nuevo deseo. Del poemario inédito Solsticio de invierno, derechos reservados.
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Claudia Isabel Vila Molina
Olesya Volk
Born in Baku, Azerbajan, lived in Moscow from age 16 and moved to Los Angeles in 1992. She holds a M.F.A. in Film &TV, majoring in Animation from UCLA; and is involved in painting, writing, illustrating, cartooning, mixed media, paper theatre and small size dioramas.
My altar: The inspiration for me always comes from the area deep inside my memory, it is connected to my childhood.
That is why my personal altar reminds of a little village that existed on a shelf in the cupboard at our place when I was a child. That village had a pond and a mill, woods and little houses. It had fishermen, singers. musicians, dancers, witches and sages, and a couple of hooligans. it had the place for games and the place for meditation and talking to spirits. Me and my sister and my mother were in charge of the village, and the villagers were protecting us and granting our daily wishes. The inhabitants of that village are still living with me! some of them are seen in the altar, the others have settled around in different corners…they continue to protect and manage the ties with the other worlds. My altar tries to copy visually that village from our cupboard, only there are much more pebbles now, and the lucky holey stones , they tell me of my walks on the beaches which I also held as sacred when a child…And above the village, there are spirits or gods overseeing it, in the shape of the Indian and Turkish shadow puppets ( one of the puppets, Beberuhi, I made myself; he is a nosier , he is curios about the essence of everything. ) And there are there the photos of the loved ones as well, photos from the past.
May the love last! may the protection and the belief in my vocation last! may the blessings stay!
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Olesya Volk
Jaime Alfaro Ngwazi
born in Coquimbo, Chile in October 17th, 1971. He studied at the University of La Serena and his degree is Bachelor in Education and Visual Arts. He has carried out different worshops about graphic expression. One of them is called Vivir el Afiche given by Mieczyslaw Gorowski. Apart from this, we can also mention Lo Esencial Significa given by Mieczyslaw Wassilewski and, finally, a seminar given by Lech Majewski at the University of La Serena.
El altar como centro mágico del mundo/ una trama de hilos multicolores de lana cruzan su centro/ se cuelgan a las orejas de las llamas del altiplano /brotan teléfonos con líneas como nervios-cuerdas de charangos, algunos trozos de carne seca y latidos de corazones emulando a Boltanski, en un centro magnético que conecta espectros de cristal, pantallas de celular y el sonido del viento/ en el desierto,seco ,que disecciona el paisaje salino, entre talleres líticos y mega fauna fantasma. Todos convocados a este espacio, reproducción en artefactos de madera del gran imperio / las cabezas de jaguar rugen a las estrellas de la lejana vía láctea ‚el frío es el ruego en la amplitud de la noche, mientras un vinilo con voces raspadas gira sin fin al compás de una danza metafísica las aristas del rombo raspan la piel suave/ el centro de todo es un valle seco ‚púrpura, apastelado en colores carne.
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Jaime Alfaro Ngwazi
Tony Kail
Ethnographer and writer. Tony holds a degree in cultural anthropology and has researched ethnic cultures for more than twenty-five years. His work has taken him from voodoo ceremonies in New Orleans to Haitian Botanicas in Harlem and Spiritual Churches in East Africa. He has lectured at more than one hundred universities, hospitals and public safety agencies. Kail has been featured on CNN Online, the History Channel and numerous radio, television and print outlets. A resident of Humboldt, Tennessee, Kail was raised in Memphis and calls it his second home.
During ceremonies various events would occur that involved participants seeking reactions from the spiritual realm. On one occasion trance possession occurred and a participant was given information regarding a health issue that they had not shared with the possessed individual. Spontaneous deaths of animals would occur during rituals used to combat witchcraft. In the daily life of practitioners, physical evidence would manifest as a result of supernatural activity. Miraculous healings occurred where images of scars and skin disorders would appear on fruit and vegetables that were used in offerings to ask for healing. Subsequently practitioners would obtain healing and their wounds would disappear. Offerings to the Orishas would frequently disappear such as cups of coffee and wilting flowers would appear revived after being placed on specific altars.
From my upcoming book ‘Fieldwork with the Saints: An Ethnographic Journey into Santería in the American South
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Tony Kail
Duncan Neganigwane Pheasant
M’Chigeeng First Nation artist Duncan Neganigwane Pheasantisfrom Manitoulin Island. Duncan started painting in high school using colours and techniques inspired by Norval Morrisseau and other Woodland style artists. His grandfather, Ambrose Pheasant, told stories that were also a great influence on his artwork. Duncan uses his images to interpret Ojibwe legends and stories that surround the history of his ancestors and Manitoulin Island.
The Mohawk Warrior Flag design has been flown all over the world, serving as a symbol of the unity of Indigenous peoples in our common struggle, becoming a beacon of hope, and illuminating the discordant relationship between the dominant society and Indigenous peoples. The deer’s antlers are one of the characteristics that have made it the figure of a spiritual superiority, according to the Ojibwe. Like a crown, the antlers grow beyond its body, bringing it closer to the sky and making it sacred. In many tribes the deer is a symbol of spiritual authority. During a deer’s life the antlers fall off and grow again and the animal is also a symbol of regeneration.
Regeneration is the key to my shrine,, I burn sacred tobacco and recite the welcoming prayer.. The flag is also a symbol of regeneration,, fighting for what’s right, bringing the people back from the brink of disappearance and destruction when you enter it you travel through the eastern doorway…like when you were born…behind the warrior flag is another door…the western doorway…this is where you travel through when your journey is finished .but it is on the other side of the flag…this represents the fight ,the journey is to be done first…then you can travel through the western door…
Overall, having this home altar can be another way to remind myself of things I love or intentions I have for the future. If any of these rules are throwing me off, just trust my gut. You know what is best for you and your intentions. As long as you are in touch with your true desires, you’ll be fine to design your home altar anyway you like.
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Duncan Neganigwane Pheasant
Jay Blackwood
makes assemblages, boxes, totem dolls and other three dimensional pieces using found objects and materials. He has been involved with Surrealism, both as a practice and as a creative/revolutionary current, since the early 1990s. His work straddles the border between dream and consensus reality, the everyday and the numinous. Jay lives in Bristol, England.
The presiding spirit in my studio is a wonderful stone lithograph by Rikki Ducornet, Histoire Naturelle I, kindly given to me by Guy Ducornet some years ago. Beneath it are a number of pieces I made between 2001 and 2015. They are the product of chance finds, dreams and fleeting inspirations. All relate in some way to the natural world, and to archaic notions of male/female energies.
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Jay Blackwood
CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ LANFRANCO
born in Valparaíso in 1968. After living in Patagonia and in United States product of a scholarship, his first painting exhibitions were date back to the nineties in Valdivia. Later he moved to Santiago and the Fifth Region, where his visual and literary work materializes in a body of work that addresses different forms of expression, such as painting and drawing, experimental and documentary video, visual poetry and muralism, with public art projects installed in Santiago, Valparaíso. As a visual artist he has exhibited his paintings in 15 solo shows and in more than 60 group shows in Chile, Europe and the United States, and his poetic texts have been published in regional, national and international poetry collections, his work being awarded in different state funds for artistic creation such as Fondart, Cntv, Fondo Carnavales Cultural Centers of Valparaíso, among others. Currently the painter lives and works between Valparaíso, Santiago and Concón, where he develops his artistic projects and teacher training, being in charge of university graduates, painting and mural workshops, becoming a teacher for generations of students and artists who have worked with him.
SELK’NAM FORCE. AS AN EXERCISE OF CREATION ON TRAVEL, CARRIED OUT DURING MY TEMPORARY TRANSIT THROUGH DIFFERENT PLACES IN CHILE SUCH AS THE ANDES MOUNTAINS, THE SOUTHERN CANALS, PATAGONIA AND THE ROUGH ARIDITY OF THE NORTH COASTS. A GLANCE OF THE BODY VALUE THAT THE ANCIENT CULTURES OF THE SOUTH OF THE PLANET GAVE THEIR CEREMONIAL REPRESENTATIONS, WHERE WITCHES AND SHAMANS DRESSED WITH BARK OR LEATHER MASKS COVERED WITH MUD AND MINERAL PIGMENTS SUCH AS WHITE, BLACK OR RED ON WHICH THEY THEN DRAWED FRAGMENTS OF THE SKY, THE PATH OF THE CONSTELLATIONS, SIGNS OF ANIMALS OR IMPORTANT NATURAL EVENTS – THE MOVEMENT OF THE SUN OR THE MOON – USING THE BODY AS A SUPPORT, AS A MAP, AS A GEOGRAPHICAL LANDMARK.
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Claudio Rodriguez Lanfranco
Doug Campbell
works primarily in collage, enjoying the immediacy of cutting through the detritus of the spectacle to the marvellous. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he still lives. Asking about the word ‘surrealist’ after finding it in a science fiction novel as a child, he was given a small book of Surrealist paintings. This was the first step on an adventure that continues until this day. His first encounter with living Surrealism was a second-hand copy of the Chicago Group’s ‘ARSENAL 4’ in the mid 1990’s. In response to a letter, Franklin Rosemont directed him to the recently-formed Leeds Surrealist group. This led to an on-going engagement with the international Surrealist movement through correspondence, collective games and contributions to publications and group shows. In 2017, he took part in the ‘Archaeology of Hope’ a large-scale Surrealist game concluding with a show and solstice ritual on the Isle of Wight. This was a significant transformative experience for everyone involved. Since then he has published a continuing series of collage novels in weekly instalments online at ‘The Cabinet of Major Weir’.
This is the biggest shrine in the house, and in the main living space, so probably the best organised. A mix of heirloom items, curios and pop culture junk. Framed artwork on the wall is by (l to r) Janice Hathaway, Tim White and Peter Overton. The boxed object at upper left is a magic bottle that belonged to my grandfather, an amateur conjurer.
Image courtesy with the kind permission from Doug Campbell
Mitchell Pluto
Artist, Jewelry Maker, Art Editor
I began collecting objects for our altar in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. I selected figures that embody different archetypical aspects of growth and limitation. The process of recovery is sincerely magical. These mysterious qualities remain a focus on the altar. They play a vital role in the background as well as influencing the subconscious in healthy ways. Constructing an altar helped me be attentive to the belief needed for healing.
During the pandemic complimentary rum and coffee were supplied as part of a thoughtful routine and ritual. The other side of our altar is a shelf for salts, herbs and spices.
Wifredo Lam
Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture.
Wifredo Lam Osun, 1977 bronzeWifredo Lam GRAND YEMAYA, 1977 bronze sculpture, brown patinaPhotos from MutualArt
About theFeatured Photo
The Hair of Falmer
The Hair of Falmer, an altar created by Claude Tarnaud, Michel Hertz and Francis Bouvet following a design sent by Wifredo Lam from Havana for Le Surrealisme en 1947 exhibition held at Galerie Maeght, Paris, 7 July-30 September 1947 original photo Denise Bellon. Expert from The EY Exhibition: Wifredo Lam. Tate Publishing figure 33, page 211 used and intended for educational purpose only
A Second Look at Leary’s Eight-Circuit Model: Gurdjieff’s Law of Octaves and the Tarot P.D. Newman Along with Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil, Timothy Leary was part of what has been called “the Harvard Psychedelic Club.” Fired from his position at Harvard University for failing to attend scheduled class lectures, Leary is perhaps best known as being one of the most vocal advocates of lysergic acid diethylamide (better known as LSD-25), an extremely powerful hallucinogenic drug which Leary et alii helped to popularize during the revolutionary sixties. He was also part of the Harvard Psilocybin Project, which Leary organized following a trip to Mexico during which he was administered psilocybin mushrooms. He later recalled of this experience that he had: learned more about [his] brain and its possibilities [and] more about psychology in the five hours after taking these mushrooms than…in the preceding fifteen years of studying and doing research in psychology. The Harvard Psilocybin Project went on to conduct the famous Concord Prison Experiment, which evaluated whether psilocybin paired with psychotherapy could successfully rehabilitate repeat offenders, and the Marsh Chapel Experiment, which sought to discover if psilocybin could reliably induce mystical experiences in religiously predisposed theology students. In 1963, Leary helped initiate the Millbrook Experiment, an enormous mansion located in New York where residents spent their days experimenting with psychedelic drugs and living according to the teachings of Armenian mystic, G.I. Gurdjieff. To Gurdjieff, we’ll return below. These experiments, impressive and novel as they were, are not the good doctor’s sole claims to fame, however. During one of his many incarcerations, in 1972, Dr. Leary developed a new theoretical model of the evolution of life on earth—and of individual human consciousness—which he called the ‘Eight Brain’ or ‘Eight Circuit’ model. Popularized by Discordian Pope, Robert Anton Wilson, Leary’s Eight Circuit model postulates that all life on earth (and indeed in the entire cosmos) evolves through a series of eight successive ‘circuits.’ This same eight-fold process, Leary adds, is recapitulated in the development of consciousness within an individual human being. Just as the human embryo at various times manifests as unicellular, possessed of gills, having a tail, etc., so too does individual conscious unfold through the same successive stages of evolution. Divided into Terrestrial and Post-Terrestrial phases, Leary’s eight ‘circuits’ unfold as follows: Terrestrial: 1. The Bio-Survival (Marine Consciousness) Circuit 2. The Emotion-Locomotion Terrestrial-Mammalian (Territorial Consciousness) Circuit 3. The Symbolic-Artifactual (Laryngeal-Muscular Consciousness) Circuit 4. The Industrial (Socio-Sexual Consciousness) Circuit Post-Terrestrial 5. The Cyber-Somatic (Body Consciousness) Circuit 6. The Cyber-Electronic (Brain Consciousness) Circuit 7. The Cyber-Genetic (DNA Consciousness) Circuit 8. The Cyber-Atomic (Quantum Consciousness) Circuit Without entering into too much detail regarding the function of these ‘Brains,’ it is sufficient to say that each of the eight ‘circuits’ are further divided into three successive stages (thus giving us twenty-four) of what Leary calls “con-telligence.” Con–telligence is defined as “the reception (consciousness), integration, and transmission of energy signals.” The three stages of con–telligence applied to each of the unfolding circuits then constitute the twenty-four phases of the awareness, mastery, and communication-fusion of each new evolutionary technology—from spineless, floating amoeboid (as well as newborn infant) to meta-physiological nano-technician at the “violet hole” found at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The people who represent these various stages of evolution Leary refers to as ‘castes.’ In an attempt to “relate the psychology of the ancient, pre-scientific world with modern notions of stages [and] phases,” Leary was wont to apply his twenty-four periods of evolution to the Major Arcana of the Tarot, wherein he perceived a clear reflection of his own model. For example, to illustrate the three-stage ‘con-telligence’ of Circuit I, Leary employed The Fool, The Magician, and The Empress cards. In illustration of the con-telligence of Circuit II, he used The High Priestess, The Emperor, and the Hierophant, etc. However, there’s just one problem with this arrangement. The Major Arcana are possessed of only twenty-two cards, leading Leary, to the horror of every Tarot purist in the world, to invent two brand new Major Arcana cards: Starmaker and Violet Whole. As hip and groovy as these two additions no doubt are, they may not have been necessary. Had Leary paid closer attention to his Gurdjieff while residing at Millbrook—or to the Ouspensky title (In Search of the Miraculous) that Charlie Manson slipped him while in solitary confinement at Folsom Prison—he might have thought to apply the sequence of Tarot’s Major Arcana cards to Gurdjieff’s Heptaparaparshinokh, aka his Law of Octaves.
According to the Law of Octaves, everything in the universe that happens or can happen manifests according to a fixed set of cyclic vibrations, called octaves. From the initial impulse of a given thing to that thing’s final completion, this constitutes an octave; that is, from do (start) to do (finish) in the Ionian mode (do re mi fa sol la ti do) constitutes a given octave. Whether it is the birth and death of a galaxy or the beginning and end of an acid trip, taken as a unit, each of these phenomena would constitute its own octave. Considered in the key of C major (which Gurdjieff obviously intends), it becomes evident that a given octave is possessed not only of eight steps, but also of two intervals. For, every note in the C major scale is followed by a sharp—save two: mi and ti. Unlike the other six tones, mi and ti, rather than being followed by semitones, move directly into the following whole notes. To compensate for these ‘intervals,’ in order to complete a given octave, Gurdjieff postulates that two “additional shocks” are required. P.D. Ouspensky, an early student of Gurdjieff, writes: In an ascending octave the first ‘interval’ comes between mi and fa. If corresponding additional energy enters at this point the octave will develop without hindrance to [ti], but between [ti] and do it needs a much stronger ‘additional shock’ for its right development than between mi and fa, because the vibrations of the octave at this point are of a considerably higher pitch and to overcome a check in the development of the octave a greater intensity is needed. It is our understanding that an ‘additional shock’ in an ascending (evolutionary) octave may be constituted by anything from a physical or emotional trauma, a mental break with mundane reality, a mystical initiation, a ritual working, or even by a psychedelic experience. It is the application of ‘super effort’ at two points in an ‘octave’ that will aid in bringing its process to completion.
Possessed of eight steps and two ‘intervals,’ Gurdjieff’s Law of Octaves neatly solves the problem of what Leary saw as two ‘missing cards.’ If we allot the cards of the Major Arcana in sets of three to Leary’s eight ‘circuits’ while keeping true to Gurdjieff’s Law of Octaves, we arrive at the arrangement below. Let the Arabic numerals indicate Leary’s Eight Circuit model. Let the Roman numerals represent those attributed to the Major Arcana cards. Let the asterisks represent Gurdjieff’s ‘additional shocks.’
1. 0 – I – II (do)
III – IV – V (re)
VI – VII – * (mi)
VIII – IX – X (fa)
XI – XII – XIII (sol)
XIV – XV – XVI (la)
XVII – XVIII – * (ti)
XIX – XX – XXI (do) As the reader may observe, these ‘shocks’ fall into the ‘transmission’ (per his theory of ‘con-telligence’) slots of Leary’s third (Symbolic-Artifactual) and seventh (Cyber-Genetic) circuits, precisely in the places where the ‘additional shocks’ are necessitated, per Gurdjieff’s Law of Octaves—no invention of cards required. The suggestion here is that ‘additional shocks’ serve as bridges for the transmission gaps between a) the integration phase of the Symbolic-Artifactual Circuit and the reception phase of the Industrial Circuit and b) the integration phase of the Cyber-Genetic Circuit and the reception phase of the Cyber-Atomic Circuit—thus providing the individual (and the species) with the momentum necessary to break the barriers between one evolutionary circuit and the next. In the Tarot, these ‘shocks’ appear between a) The Chariot and Strength and b) The Moon and The Sun cards. In the system popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, The Chariot corresponds to the zodiac sign Cancer. Strength, on the other hand, corresponds to Leo. Conveniently, as Cancer is ruled by the moon and Leo is ruled by the sun, combined with the second ‘additional shock’ which occurs between The Moon and The Sun Cards, we see that both the ‘shocks’ take place at ‘intervals’ between symbolic diametrical moon-sun relationships. These ‘shocks,’ then, both practically and symbolically, serve the same ‘bridging’ function of a mercurial mediator between alchemical opposites. Coincidence? Perhaps. Granted, we may be guilty of ‘confusing the planes’ by comparing the zodiacal attributions of one pair of cards to the titles of another. However, one cannot deny the symmetrical neatness of the structure. For this arrangement to work, it goes without saying that all the cards and explanations following The Chariot in Leary’s model must be rearranged and reworked to accommodate for Gurdjieff’s ‘shocks.’ And, in fact, in Info-Psychology, his 1987 revision of Exo-Psychology, Leary kindly invited the reader “to engage in an ‘interactive co-writing’ of these important issues.” That’s all we’re really doing here. In any event, at the very least, we’ve arrived at what would appear to be a totally novel mode of Tarot analysis. The notion that hidden ‘additional shocks’ appear in the major arcana sequence between cards VII and VIII and between cards XVIII and XIX is, to our knowledge, unprecedented. But, does this innovation mean that two of Leary’s ‘castes’ must be sacrificed in favor these ‘shocks?’ Or, is the implication that two of Leary’s ‘castes’ are the ‘shocks?’ Further analysis is required to know. One thing we can say with certainty, however—and that, along with Leary’s friend, Dr. Israel Regardie of the Golden Dawn—is that “posterity […] will have a finer appreciation of what [Dr. Timothy Leary] has contributed to the world than we have today.” WORKS CITED Alpert, William. Ram Dass: Fierce Grace. Zeitgeist Films, New York. 2003 Hollingshead, Michael. The Man Who Turned on the World. The Psychedelic Library. http://www.psychedelic-library.org/hollings.htm. Accessed Jan. 9, 2017 Lattin, Don. The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. HarperOne, San Francisco. 2011 Leary, Timothy. Info-Psychology: A Manual on the Use of the Human Nervous System According to the Instructions of the Manufacturers. New Falcon Publications, Las Vegas. 1987 Leary, Timothy. Neuropolitique. New Falcon Publications, Las Vegas. 2006. Leary, Timothy. The Game of Life. New Falcon Publications, Las Vegas. 2015 Ouspensky, P.D. In Search of the Miraculous: The Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff. Harcourt, Inc., New York. 2001 Wilson, Robert Anton. Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati. Hilaritas Press, LLC., Grand Junction, CO. 2016 Wilson, Robert Anton. Prometheus Rising. Hilaritas Press, LLC., Grand Junction, CO. 2016
P.D. Newman is an independent researcher located in the southern US, specializing in the history of the use of entheogenic substances in religious rituals and initiatory rites. He is the author of the books, Alchemically Stoned: The Psychedelic Secret of Freemasonry, Angels in Vermilion: The Philosophers’ Stone from Dee to DMT, and the forthcoming title, Day Trips and Night Flights: Anabasis, Katabasis, and Entheogenic Ekstasis in Myth and Rite. The Secret Teachings of All Ages (TV Series documentary) 2023.
African art has been a part of my childhood. My mother, Nadya Levi, was a sculptor who collected African art, and my father, Herman Norden, was an antique dealer who had a room in his house filled with African art, books, and stuffed birds. As a child, I went to London many times with my mother for auctions, where we met interesting people like Patricia Withofs and Gaston de Havenon. I also remember Mrs. Huguette van Geluwe in Brussels, where we went to seek her opinion on Congolese pieces, or Willy Mestach. And there were Simpson, Charles Raton, and Baron Rollin, who would visit us in Antwerp, and as a little boy, I had to serve coffee and help clean the display cases.
The Salampasu mask is steeped in cultural significance and is traditionally used in tribal ceremonies and rituals. It is believed to represent ancestral spirits and is used for various purposes, such as warding off evil spirits, promoting fertility, and celebrating harvest festivals.
My mother’s collection of Bassa and Dan masks, all hung side by side, many of which were acquired from Paolo Morigi. My first purchase was a small miniature Etruscan stone tablet depicting a lion.
Gelede Mask Yoruba Nigeria. This sect is devoted to the mother of all orisha, the matriarchal head of the universe. Lega Turtle Mask. Mask symbolizes the wisdom of the elder members of the Bwami. Bamileke figure with three heads -Cameroun
I am always looking for an object that evokes emotions in me. I would love to acquire a beautiful object that belonged to Henry Pareyn, the first collector dealer in Antwerp around 1910. I have always derived more pleasure from acquiring objects than from selling them, but I am not a fetishist who cannot part with them.
Ogoni ‘Elu’ mask with articulated jaw, Nigeria.The Ogboni ( also spelled Ogoni) people are an ancient and secretive society that has existed in Nigeria for centuries. Their religion is centered around the worship of various deities and the use of masks in religious rituals and ceremonies. The Ogboni mask being described is a prime example of this tradition.
What determines the value of the works? The value of an object often depends on the buyer. I could say that it is the beauty and antiquity associated with the provenance, but in reality, it is the emotion that an object evokes in you that is important, and sometimes the place your imagination gives it.
A 19th century Bakongo Nkisi Figure. The figure is known as a nkondi, which means “hunter” or “hunter of wrongs,” and it is believed to have the power to track down and punish wrongdoers. The mirror in its belly is said to allow it to see into the hearts of people and to reveal any evil or malicious intentions they may have. The eyes of the figure are made of mirror, and they are thought to help the nkondi to see clearly in the spiritual realm.
There are so many personalities in this field who have inspired me that I can’t name them all, but first and foremost, it is people with a deep passion and those who recognize the beauty and importance of African art for humanity that inspire me the most. African art has had a tremendous impact and great influence on Western art after World War I, and it is only natural to recognize the importance of this art and its artists.
Kuyu Crest Head. The two lizards on the head of the Kuyu sculpture could represent spiritual guardians or protective spirits, as lizards are frequently associated with protective powers in many African cultures
The African art market represents only 0.8% of the overall antique market. It is flooded with fakes, and verifying authenticity is reserved for a very small experienced elite with a network of knowledgeable friends. Determining the value is equally unpredictable due to the market’s volatility, as it is too small. However, this provides many opportunities for knowledgeable buyers to make good purchases. The price of African art has declined in recent years for mid-range pieces due to the disappearance of wealthy collectors and the abundance of supply in the market. Only exceptional objects still command high prices.
A 1967 published and museum exhibited Dogon Figure Hermaphroditic figure on a seat, which is supported by four female figures with raised arms. Yellow-brown patinated, heavy, hard wood. The published Meulendijk Dogon Figure was also exhibited in the ” Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde” in Rotterdam, Nederland in december 1967
I do see many small collectors entering the market, but they rarely “invest” more than a few thousand euros. The recognition of contemporary African art over the past decade is very encouraging, as it could attract new audiences to African primitive art as well. The role of museums and cultural institutions is crucial in recognizing these cultures. In this regard, the Musée du quai Branly is doing excellent work by offering beautiful exhibitions that attract new audiences. However, the recent demands for repatriation create some discomfort in the market in the short term. But with the recognition of the importance of their own art, in the long term, it should allow an African market to develop in Africa. I also look forward to the creation of museums on the African continent, especially with the opening of the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar.
Throughout his journey, Norden has found inspiration in numerous figures within the primitive art field. He admires those who possess a deep passion for African art and recognize its significance in the broader context of humanity. The profound impact of African art on Western artistic movements following World War I further fuels his admiration for the art form and its artists. Looking ahead, Norden’s enthusiasm for primitive art shows no signs of waning. With an ongoing book project awaiting completion, he is dedicated to sharing his extensive knowledge and experiences with a wider audience.
Norden places great importance on the role of museums and cultural institutions in recognizing and promoting the significance of African art and its associated cultures. He commends the Musée du quai Branly for its remarkable exhibitions, which attract new audiences and foster appreciation for African primitive art. Norden also expresses anticipation for the emergence of museums on the African continent, with the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar serving as a beacon of hope.
David Norden’s lifelong dedication to primitive art has solidified his position as a respected figure in the field. His unwavering passion, discerning eye, and commitment to preserving the legacy of African art continue to shape his remarkable journey. As he eagerly shares his knowledge and explores new horizons, Norden’s contributions play an invaluable role in promoting the beauty and significance of primitive art to a global audience.
Sint Katelijnevest 27/B2000 Antwerpen/Belgium+32 3 227.35.40/david.norden@telenet.be
Listen to the mysterious, revealing and fierce voices within you.
And if you are caught up by fear of doing so, remember that it is wrong for the senses to belong to the everyday, lived world.
For me any discovery that changes the nature or direction or a phenomenon constitutes
of something or is a surrealist /poetic truth.
Objective chance , the subtlety of the intuition of the expectation, and the constant search for its flash .
Going without a destination, the poet has an unknown encounter with the word, freed from any linguistic logic.
In poetry the mind blows out of the mind. It aims at the spontaneous reclassification of things into a deeper and freer order, which is impossible to explain by the means of the ordinary mind.
The poet alternately is a deadwood pruner, a transformer, and a thunderbolt.
Silence is a complete poetic and surrealist work.
The word must be left in suspense for a moment before it is transferred to a physical state on paper. At dawn or dusk, we walk down the road and sometimes come across the silhouette of a silent fairy woman, whose silence is the most comprehensive concept of poetry, and surrealism.
an absolutely possessed throat, echoing between howls and silence.
the secrets of the world created, within the poetic mystery, darkness unfolds while questioning is stripped.
Earthly legend and mystery doors open to infinity.
The poet is an enemy of the Sufist .
The poet is not bound by a vision or a superior authority.
Poetry is a momentary extraction of the unknown from the veins of every language.
If the poem does not have a chaotic body that smells of demolition, negation and destruction of all existing literary forms, genres,
Then what is living poetry?
Poetry should be the color of dried blood
The poem is the beginning and end of the world, it revives the world and its death, dismantles all self- and collective censorship, esoteric and physical, and drops every daily living dictionary.
The poem is an arena for the execution of all linguistic paralysis by burning with the napalm of the lust.
Poetry is not a linguistic expression, but a visual, physical and perhaps biological expression as well.
Real poetry employs itself to monitor a waking dream which is resentful of its fate, re-sculpting it with dough baked by chaos inside the bone furnace called the human head.
I believe that enhancing poetic esoteric awareness does not come only by enhancing the possession of language or general cognitive awareness, but by developing and training the eye on scenes of logic disintegration always, whether they are daily or artistic works.
Even with everyday mind games
Thus, the magnetic linguistic ability self-develops and expands not only through the subconscious mind, but also through the nerves of the eye’s practice of strenuous imaginative sports to extract the faculties of impossible earthy miracles in all its forms and templates.
I treat the Arabic language rules as a relationship between oppression and freedom; understand it
As a repressive social specter that must be removed and rebuilt anew every moment with vast doors to spend the free desire.
Poetry is the chaotic condensation of the inner momentary realization, but the seer poet must tame the tools of this condensation towards a permanent quest for the human interior, a quest fertilized by doubts in everything outside the individual.
Every human being has a poetic companion who lives behind his eye, the cunning poet who makes him constantly jump like a kangaroo and always seeks to protect this kangaroo from drowning in the prior cement lakes and to teach this kangaroo that there is no limit to what is called verbal maturity,
poetry is a permanent electrical revolution inside the mind It is not controlled by something imaginary or even social.
The chief function of poetry is to impart sharp disturbances to language and to overthrow every possible holiness it bears. For me grammarians and academics of language are the social police of the imagination.
I despise even the inherited Arab aspirations to rebel against the Arabic language, except of course à few poets I see the deceptive horizon of most Arab poets now that they throw themselves in the recycling factories of closed poetic ambitions.
Surrealism relates to expressing «the real functioning of thought […] in the absence of any control exercised by reason and apart from any aesthetic or moral concern ».
– We think that not only language, but the whole world in all its aspects, was given to humanity to make surrealist use of it.
“All things are called to other uses than those generally attributed to them.” – André Breton, Le Point du Jour.
– We think that surrealists should make use of whatever materials and tools that they find attractive. Whether a feather, a cloud or a computer, any single object in this world becomes a surrealist object as soon as surrealist use is made of it.
– We think that the results of surrealist activities do not have to conform to any type of listed art form, nor even to whatever is considered art.
– Restrictions regarding materials and tools, as well as compliance with traditional artistic categories are views that were already considered and experienced as obsolete by most artists of the Renaissance period. We think that an attempt to liberate the human mind may in no way be successfully achieved on the basis of a narrower scope of practices and intellectual freedom than that which was already acquired by artists at that time.
-‘we are interested in how surrealism appears in everyday life, whether it’s from surrealists or not, but we understand this is not the same as a surrealist movement.”
-“We are interested in certain parallel currents that might overlap with surrealism. Surrealism may -appear- or be present- within avant garde or popular art but it’s not necessarily the same thing.”
– We categorically reject mixing surrealism with whatever form of religion, and we reject the presence of any religious persons within the group.
– We reject any aesthetic attribute that directly or indirectly integrates into the life of this society or that would tend to reconcile with it.
– Realistic daily life erases the perception of the unique characteristics of objects. We will always seek to break this mechanism and its dynamics by means of words, plastic art, music and cinema or any other means.
– Collective automatism is self-contained in everyday life. It floats in the air, dissolving every entrenched and worn-out intellectual authority.
– The poem is a collective work, even if it is from one’s individual imagination.
– We have nothing but contempt for the guardians of grammar because they are the protectors of the heavy legacy of linguistic dependence that erases the ecstasy of all free desire.
– We support every creative act that contributes to the wondrous conquest of everyday life and the conquest of mad love. Everything that has been physically neglected in the city, and every sexual explosion that social fascism hides, is for us the dough with which we form our written and visual poems.
written by Mohsen Elbelasy
Mohsen Elbelasy Egyptian surrealist artist and poet and researcher and editor in chief of the Room surrealist Magazine and sulfur-surrealist-jungle.com and the co manager of the international exhibition of surrealism Cairo Saint-Cirq-Lapopie and Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism Exhibition. And co-founder of the Middle East and North Africa Surrealist Group. (MENA) and He also worked as a translator, cultural journalist and organizer of cultural and artistic events in Egypt and internationally. Chrysopoeia Surrealist union /Cooperative. In 2022, his book The Trip of Kamel Al Tilmissany won the Sawiris Grand Prize of Literary Criticism
Mitchell Pluto 