Issue 157

Colombian Contemporary Art

08th October 2007

Displaced is the largest exhibition to date of Colombian contemporary art, and is organised by the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in co-operation with a number of British and Colombian organisations. The exhibition explores the themes of place and belonging using a range of media from painting, drawing, and photography, to sculpture, video and installation pieces. The work exhibited is by a collection of internationally-acclaimed artists and exciting new artists making their first move to the arts scene outside of Colombia.

The exhibition tackles issues such as mass-migration, which is a major issue in Colombia due to violence, political and social climates, altering resources and the search for better standards of living. Alberto Baraya explores this idea of movement from the point of view of travel and tourism. He uses plastic plants from settings such as homes or restaurants to explore how the traveller interacts with local contexts. His work draws on the classification carried out by early explorers in America.

Colombia's relationship with America is a topic that is revisited time and time again in the artists' work. Nadin Ospina uses traditional Colombian techniques to create sculptures of American icons such as Mickey Mouse and Bart Simpson. This critical look at the stifling of traditional expression by the pre-packaged American culture that is forced upon countries such as Colombia brings home the sickening realisation of a global monotony that is brought about in the wake of such omniscient forces. However, it is impossible to look at the Colombian's relationship to their colonisers without being reminded of our own position in the plays of power and considering the effect our own lifestyles have on the global scene.

Although not condoning the role of colonialism, Maria Elvira Escallón's photos of her tree sculptures recognise the idea that native and colonial influences are an important part of a person's background and who they have become, and that those influences can never be simply removed. Jose Alejandro Restrepo's video Paso del Quindio II explores one of the brutal A new exhibition at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery showcases the work of acclaimed and newly established Colombian artists in a lively exploration of colonialism, migration and our global neighbourhood...

sides of Colombia's life with the Spanish, documenting the lives of human carriers used to carry other people during Spain's invasion of Colombia. The exhibition explores a number of viewpoints, and François Bucher collects pictorial depictions of fox-hunting to consider the notions of taste and status in upper class Colombian families. He sees the never-present fox as a symbol of aspiration which is never quite achieved.

Video installations such as Carolina Caycedo's How to Obtain a British Passport and Wílson Díaz's Rebels from the South about Colombian folk music promise to shed an alternative light to that of our own Western view of issues such as migration and culture.

The exhibition informs and challenges the viewer about a number of issues in Colombian culture, but possibly the most uplifting installation has resonances for all societies. Humberto Junca's Ronda lays out the uniforms of poor and privileged schoolchildren and connects each to its neighbour by unravelled threads. Displaced invites us to imagine our connection to our own global neighbours.

Displaced - Contemporary Art From Colombia - Glynn Vivian Art Gallery October 6 - January 6.

Holly Thomas