Tratado material IV: Narcissus’ echo

Audio Piece 15 min.

A reflection on the relations still in force between empire and colony, between the West and America, in the space of a colonial convent in Lima. As an active listening to the call that the poet and thinker Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz made in 1689 when she wrote the play “Divino Narciso”, in which she compares Jesus to Narcissus, Narcissus to the West, Echo to America. What remains of Narcissus’ dialogue with Echo in the structures of our world? How many cracks can we look for to break the material cacophonies of exploitation? What traces of Narcissus are palpable in the quests of contemporary art? How many calls to the ripples of that water of Narcissus’ lake? —Text by Curators Tratado Material (Oscar Cueto, Frida Robles, Ramiro Wong).

My work seeks to point out the impact of the colonial proposal of life that confronts nature in an extractive way, in its perpetual search for progress and development. Also suggesting that our relationships with other earth-beings (De la Cadena) activate alternatives for transformative action. Revisiting the myth of Narcissus I realize that it is implied that he has never done the exercise of “seeing” himself. Narcissus’ encounter with water causes him to become obsessed with the projection of his image, to the point of losing his life. Besides the critique of vanity, one could also read a warning. Could the myth also be an ecological warning about the power of water and the persistence of life? Narcissus dies but in the same place a flower of the same name is born.

Museo Convento San Francisco y Las Catacumbas de Lima.