Pachamama (2022)
Alten Feuerwache, Cologne, DEU
Dancer: Felipe Gonzalez Berrios
Song: Agua de Estrellas, Moon S.43
Real Time Graphics, Song and Direction, Kamalanetra
STATEMENT
“THE HIGHEST EDUCATION IS THAT WHICH DOES NOT MERELY GIVE US INFORMATION BUT MAKES OUR LIFE IN HARMONY WITH ALL EXISTENCE.” (TAGORE, PERSONALITY 1917)
I believe that violence is not male or female, because both men and women can be violent and that the root of violence is, in my experience, the lack of Love. In my experience, the most painful violence is when we hold internalise oppression against ourselves when we’re too scared to be who we truly are.
Through new media, immersive installations, math geometry, speech, songs/mantras, and dance, I explore the topic of compassion and what exist beyond the matter and the mind. This exploration responds to the ostracism, exotification, pathologisation, hate speech, invasive and life-threatening situations I have faced in both private and public as a transgender woman. Likewise, I reject the need to define myself in western terms constantly, since this limits and reduces the true essence of my being and my art.
show moreI have been inspired by pre-Columbian and ancestral cultures/deities that transcend the topic gender through a spiritual lens. Notable examples include the Tida Wena (Warao) in Venezuela, the Mapuche Machi in Andean culture, the Kinnar/Hijra in India, and the stories of goddess Quan Yin. Although I do not belong to these communities, they have inspired me to reflect on my own identity, origins, and spirituality, on who we are after leaving the physical body. I am Vaishnava, and I am moved by stories from different deities such as Radhe Krishna, Katyayani Devi and hindu saints like Ramakrishna and Sri Lalita Sakhi Dasi (Sakhi Ma).
My work navigates the internal conflict between the limitations of science and the oscillating permissions of art, developing contemplative audiovisuals and introspective worlds that become digital and material. Building bridges within and beyond the transgender, intersex and non-binary community, breaking down barriers through shared narratives, and promoting understanding.
The pineapple is a polysemic element in my work that evolves throughout my life. It symbolizes different moments in my transformation process—social, mental, physical and spiritual. It is the thematic axis of an art based research that I carried out in 2017-2019 within the open science movement, which lead to a project Pineapples Laboratories (2020). In this exploration, a laboratory was conceptualised with the aim of promoting creativity for social impact. In the work Pachamama (2021-23) I explore co-creatively the topic compassion and connexion to Mother Earth. My latest work, What is in Me (2024), is dedicated to Radha, the Hindu goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion.
Kamalanetra, August 2024
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