Ropa Blanca / White Clothing 2018

Ropa Blanca / White Clothing 2018

I will follow mysterious cotton blankets found in caves wrapping mummies. Theses mummies belonged to the Guane people, an indigenous group from Colombia.  I grew up surrounded by the mountains where these caves-cemeteries were found. As a child, I heard about these archeological finds but I never really saw any of them. Later on, when I became an adult and an artist I decided to research about these renowned blankets and is where the story started.

The Unproductive People / Improductividad

Embroidery on hand-craft cotton textile, 32″ x 51″, 2018 / Bordado sobre lienzo de algodón artesanal, 83 cm x 130 cm, 2108

*It is a quote from Memorias de Hacienda, 1847, Florentino Gonzalez, State Secretary for the Treasury Desk of the Nueva Granada Government (today it is Colombia) This quote was found in the article “Santander, el algodón y los tejidos del siglo XIX” by Pierre Raymond, Ph.D., and published in Revista Credencial, 2015.

Wrapped & Covered / Envuelto, revestido y recubierto 

Inkjet print on semi – gloss paper, (2) x 41” x 61”, 2018 / Impresión inkjet sobre papel semi-brillante, (2) x 105 cm x 155 cm, 2018

White Clothing / Ropa blanca

Installation, hand-crafted cotton textile, stop-motion animation, sublimation on textile, dimensions variable, 2018 / Instalación, textile artesanal de algodón, animación stop-motion, sublimación sobre textil, dimensiones variables, 2018

Yarn / Madeja, stop-motion animation, 2018
Spinner / Hilandera, stop-motion animation, 2’02”, 2018
musical composition: Carolina Silva

Second Skin Performance / Performance Segunda piel

The garments tracing the surface of the body are often considered to be second skins, and the patterns covering them always say something about the wearer.

Bradley Quinn
Second Skin / Segunda piel, performance, 3′ 23″, 2018
Dancer: Camila Silva, musical composition: Carolina Silva

ROPA BLANCAR

Ropa Blanca is an art project inspired by a cotton textile created by a group of rural women in Colombia. These women have recovered partial knowledge of the ancestral techniques of growing, spinning, and weaving that the Guane people once developed. This indigenous group is no longer in existence. The project aims to explore the various moments and stories associated with this type of hand-crafted canvas.

Acknowledgments:

I would like to thank and acknowledge the weavers and members from CORPOLIENZO in Charalá, Colombia, who in 2007 opened their weaving studio and shared their knowledge with me. This project came to life 11 years later. First, in 2007 it was an attempt of a documentary, and then, in 2018 became a visual arts project. I was able to buy their textiles and incorporate them into Ropa Blanca Project.

Reconocimientos:

Quiero agradecer y reconocer a las tejedoras y miembros de CORPOLIENZO en Charalá, Colombia, quienes en el 2007 abrieron su taller de tejido y compartieron su conocimiento conmigo. Este proyecto finalmente se consolida 11 años después. Primero en el 2007 intentó ser un documental y después en el 2018 se materializó en un proyecto de artes plásticas. Fue posible comprar sus textiles e incorporarlos en el proyecto Ropa Blanca.