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Gold Fevers in Black and White

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Table of Contents

Summary

Anchor 1

This project studies the life, work and death of the author José Eustasio Rivera,  as the elements of a cultural molecule: ideal to understand the influence of the modern world on the most precious ecosystems in Latin America.

It is, therefore, both a tribute to the author of (arguably) the most important literary work written in Colombia: La Vorágine / The Vortex (1924), and a chronological interpretation of the effects caused by modern-industrial societies on Amazonia.

Short sample - episode 1. The Vortex: a history of violence

J.E. Rivera's life as a cultural molecule (detail)

Production / aim

Anchor 2

The main objective is the production of a documentary series. This process includes the organisation of educational activities and ongoing discussions with academics, journalists and artists, as well as the release of  periodic samples and related artworks, as part of the project's promotion. The educational activities involve workshops following the model: Games of Collective Creation*, inspired and focused on the work of José Eustasio Rivera.

*For more information about these games visit: https://www.urbanartgames.com/games

Samples of games: scene from La Vorágine, El Cementerio Campesino (the Peasant's Graveyard)

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Timeframe / context

Anchor 3

In the near future, there will be two major celebrations regarding the life and work of  José Eustasio Rivera: in 2024 it will be the centennial anniversary of the publication of

La Vorágine and in 2028 it will be the centenary of his death. 

Structure

Anchor 4

The project contemplates the production of 4 episodes/chapters.

Ch. 1. The Vortex: a history of violence
Ch. 2. Lost in the jungle
Ch. 3. José Eustasio Rivera: a life between borders
Ch. 4. The Vortex of the 21st century.


Throughout the series, it explores the following subjects:
(a) the violence that is portrayed as the major force that drives the stories of both Colombia and La Vorágine;
(b) the influence of the modern world explained through the saga of Western explorers in Amazonia;
(c) the figure of the caudillo as part of a broader phenomenon of political sectarianism and the persistence of multiple socioeconomic factors of a feudalist nature in Colombia well into the 21st century;
(d) the establishment of the Colombian national borders (and the relationship with the nation’s neighbouring countries):
(e) the influence of foreign powers, which is divided by the direct influence of foreign governments such as those of the UK and the US and the effects of the process of economic and technological globalisation that, in many ways, has defined the modern world*.

Animated excerpts from: What lies beyond The Vortex

Partnerships and collaborations

I have been collaborating with Josefina Perdomo Rivera, who (also) shares a family connection with Rivera. She is the founder and director of the project: Woman, Mistery of Love who Gives Life to Life from the organisation: Women for Peace. For the past two decades, Josefina has worked with communities from the south of Colombia, in regions historically affected by the country’s internal conflict. She spends most of her time in the town of Cartagena del Chairá**, working in projects of community development, particularly with women head-of-home who are also victims of the conflict. Through her (and in partnership with her) we visited and produced part of the first episode in the Amazonian town of La Chorrera***.     

I have also been building partnerships with other creators such as educator and documentary-maker: Robert Max Steenkist, who is also working on creative projects based on La Vorágine, Rivera and era of rubber exploitation. I have also counted with the collaboration of professors: Julio Goyes (National University of Colombia) and Aleyda Gutierrez (Dean of Fine Arts of Universidad Pedagógica de Colombia), Ana María Cuesta (director of the Centre of Memory Peace and Reconciliation) and Camilo González Posso (president of the Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz INDEPAZ).

*For a general view of the project’s structure, you may read the article What Lies Beyond the Vortex, published in Overland Literary Journal on June 2021: https://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-245/feature-what-lies-beyond-the-vortex/

**This town was one of the epicentres at the peak of the conflict between the Colombian armed forces, paramilitary groups and the Farc guerrillas and it’s located in the middle of a major corridor for the cocaine trade.

*** This place was the main storing centre of the Arana House during the decades of rubber exploitation in the region of Putumayo and today stands as the town's secondary school. 

Motivation / origin

Anchor 5

My motivation to undertake this project relates, to a great extent, to the author: José Eustasio Rivera (1888 - 1928), with whom I share common ancestry. It also follows up on ideas explored in my doctoral research: where I studied the often contradictory relation between history and memory, under the light of three artworks produced in Colombia during the twentieth century:  (a) the chapter in the novel Changó el Gran Putas (1983) that focuses on the relationship between Simón Bolívar and Admiral José Prudencio Padilla; the depiction of the Banana Massacre in One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and the comedy sketches of the late humorist Jaime Garzón, produced in the 1990s and currently available in Youtube*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The analysis revolves around Marshall McLuhan’s definition of art as societies’ Distant Early Warning system (DEW). This project, therefore, recognises and celebrates La Vorágine not only as a literary master piece, but as a moral beacon that, both for its own merits and for the shortcomings of the generations that succeded, remains as relevant today as it was during its first publication one century ago. In accordance, it aims to capture some of the light that Rivera projected on one of the darkest chapters in the history of Latin America and the modern world, known as the rubber holocaust

 

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