BURNING RAGE:
A reckoning
EVENTS
Opening
March 28th at 5:30 pm:
Free, no registration needed
Featuring a dance performance by:
Baila Conmigo Canada
More events to come!
Stay tuned for more information.
ADELA GOLDBARD
featuring a text by Víctor Layme Mantilla
28.03.25 - 17.05.25
Curated by SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art
Antoine Bertron
Marcela Bórquez Schwarzbeck
Nuria Carton de Grammont
Santiago Tamayo Soler
BURNING RAGE - A reckoning presents the work of Adela Goldbard, a sensory experience that invites reflection on collective memory and the legacy of colonial domination. Through her collaboration with Quechua communities from Peru and P’urhépechas communities from Mexico, Goldbard creates a space where dominant historical narratives are questioned and new forms of cultural resistance are explored. Through video and installation, the exhibition encourages us to examine our relationship with the past, inviting us to confront, reconsider, and even burn it, in a symbolic act of liberation and transformation.
Goldbard’s work also extends to textile art and pyrotechnics, tools that visually represent the struggles of Indigenous peoples. The installation includes a backstrap loom weaving made with natural dyes, functioning as a storyboard for the film K’allpanakuy orcconchiskunapi, carefully crafted by the Surpuy Women’s Artisan Association from Santo Tomás Chumbivilcas.
The rainbow flag of Tahuantinsuyo, symbolizing the principles of harmony of the Inca Empire, frames the figure of a Spanish soldier made of reeds and papier-mâché, created by the Artsumex collective of master artisans from Tultepec, Mexico. Evoking the burning of Judas, a tradition celebrated during Holy Week in which the figure of the traitor is set on fire, Goldbard uses pyrotechnics in her work as a symbolic way to exorcise the past, creating a connection between folk art, community traditions, and historical memory.
Peruvian Quechua thinker and critic Víctor Layme Mantilla, originally from Ccoyo, a community in Chumbivilcas, emphasizes the importance of art in the restitution of Indigenous identities. This curatorial text is written by several hands, leaving the floor to Layme, for whom cinema has become a tool of cultural resistance for Quechua communities, allowing them to rewrite their history and transform their future.
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CHUMBIVILCAS: AUTONOMY, RESISTANCE AND LIVING CULTURE
Etimology:
Ch’umpi: brown (colour).
Willka: untamed, sacred.
“Chumbivilcas, one of the thirteen provinces that make up the Cusco Region, is recognized regionally and nationally for its rich diversity and cultural uniqueness. The main characteristic of its population is its rebelliousness, spirit of resistance, indomitable character and fervent desire to preserve its cultural autonomy. This is expressed through an agro-centric worldview, deeply linked to ancestral deities such as apus and Pachamama. Their identity is synthesized in cultural self-affirmation, which is manifested in festivities such as the qhasway (during the rainy season), the ayarachis (funeral music associated with significant events related to death), the wayliya or takanakuy, and the summer solstice celebrations, which were adapted during the colonial era to Christmas festivities. In addition, cultural syncretism has given rise to traditions such as the waka t'inkay (cattle festival), horse racing and bullfighting, known as turus pukllay (the game of the bull).
One of the most powerful manifestations of cultural resistance in Chumbivilcas is the wayliya tradition, which mobilizes almost the entire population and generates a deep sense of pride in the community. This tradition summarizes both ideological and religious resistance and acts as a historical continuity of taki unquy, a ritual chant that roughly translates into “chanting that makes one sick” or “getting sick with chanting”. It is not a biological illness, but a mood alteration. When Chumbivilcans listen to the rhythm of the wayliya, they experience a spiritual transformation: a release of their inner conflicts which allows them to reshape their environment, channeling that new energy through takanakuy, a practice in which two people hit each other.
In a provincial context, the native communities still struggle with “social asymmetry”: local mistis (landowners’ descendents) perpetuate colonial patterns and preconceived ideas on social development and coexistence. However, this reality has changed abysmally with the growing presence of countryside youth who, with new access to higher education, have become professionals. Some of this youth have even assumed political positions by popular election, while still maintaining a sense of pride and cultural belonging. This is a breakthrough, as thirty years ago, only the local elites of each district were allowed to hold office.
Nationally, Chumbivilcas is known as the “brave province of Peru”: its inhabitants are typified as “brave qorilazos (cowboys)” due to their traditions and history. As an ethnic group, the population of Chumbivilcas resisted the expansion of the Inca Empire, played an active role in the emancipation struggles against colonial abuse and participated in the Pacific War against Chile. Its local economy is energized by its cultural assets, complemented by artisanal and large-scale mining. These activities are shaping a new economic and social dynamic, but have also brought with them new challenges for the community such as crime and illegal prostitution, which is deeply affecting families and social cohesion, especially in terms of values such as respect, solidarity and reciprocity (ayni - mink'a), fundamental principles in the coexistence of the local population”.
Víctor Layme Mantilla
Santo Tomás, Chumbivilcas, 27 février 2025
ABOUT THE WRITER
Victor Layme Mantilla is a teacher, writer, social leader and intercultural education advisor, originally from the Quechua community of Ccoyo (Chumbivilcas, Peru). In 2013-14 he served as a consultant to the Plurinational State of Bolivia on intercultural education. Since 2015 has worked as a specialist in interculturalism in the Ministry of Culture-Cusco. Organizer of national and international congresses on rural education and interculturality in Puno, Cusco, Lambayeque, Cajamarca, Huánuco, Ayacucho and Cochabamba, Bolivia. His publications include Nación Ch'umpiwillka (2013) and Takanakuy: Cuando la Sangre Hierve (2003).
ABOUT BAILA CONMIGO CANADA
Baila Conmigo Canada's mission is to promote Peruvian culture through its folk dances. As an association, it has been running various dance workshops on the Peruvian coast, Andes and Amazon for children and adults since the summer of 2016.
THE ARTIST
Adela Goldbard
Adela Goldbard is a transdisciplinary artist and scholar from Mexico. She holds an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Hispanic Literature from the National University of Mexico. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Goldbard investigates the potential of violence as an aesthetic tool in the resistance against power, exploring collective processes of creation, staging, and destruction. She has had over 25 solo shows including a mid-career retrospective at Centro de la Imagen (Mexico City, 2024). Based in Providence, Rhode Island, and Mexico City, she is currently working on a commission for the Boston Public Art Triennial.
This exhibition was made thanks to the generous support of:
Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte, Sistema de Apoyos a la Creación y Proyectos Culturales, México;
Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture;
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI;
Centre for Sensory Studies, Université Concordia.