Alka Domo & Flowing Like Waterfalls
Seba Calfuqueo
Aug 24–Sep 24
Performance on: Aug 26, 3:30PM
Seba Calfuqueo (b. 1991, Santiago, Chile) is an internationally celebrated artist of Indigenous Mapuche origin. Their work appeals to their Indigenous inheritance to propose critical reflections on the social, cultural, and political status of the Mapuche subject in contemporary Chilean society, in Latin America and the world. Calfuqueo’s work marshals, among other elements, installation, ceramic, performance, and video art to explore the cultural similarities, differences, and stereotypes produced by the melding of Indigenous and Western ways of thinking. Their work often starts from the broad field of performance art, but also extends into videos that are often exhibited later and sometimes together with elements used in the action itself.
Calfuqueo’s ongoing research also proposes to make visible issues connected to feminism as well as sexual dissidence. In addition to their artistic practice, the artist also belongs to the feminist collectives Mapuche Rangiñtulewfü and Yene Revista, and has collaborated in publishing texts in the Mapuche language, working towards its stimulation and preservation.
In August, Calfuqueo will present the video installation Alka domo (2017), a performative work that recontextualizes a story about Caupolicán, the legendary Mapuche toki (meaning symbol of strength and perseverance in the face of adversity) who led the Mapuche army in an uprising against the Spanish conquistadors lasting from 1553 to 1558. Caupolicán was elected military leader by the Mapuche people of Chile after holding a log on his shoulders for two days and one night. Today, his name is a symbol for Native American resistance.
In Alka domo Seba Calfuqueo holds a hollowed-out tree trunk above their head at various public sites. During the action, the artist wears seven different colored pairs of high heels, each pair representing a single color of the LGBTQ flag. The locations for the performance are places that symbolize the complexity of the interaction between Mapuche and Chilean culture, along with locations associated with Calfuqueo’s own biography.
In addition to this major video installation, Calfuqueo will also present the performance Flowing Like Waterfalls (2022-2023) on August 26, at 3:30 PM.
About Seba Calfuqeo
Seba Calfuqueo’s artworks are in the collections of the Centre Pompidou (France), Denver Art Museum (USA), MALBA (Argentina), Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Spain), KADIST collection (France), Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Rio Grande do Sul – MAC RS (Brazil), and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Chile). They have recently participated in the 34th Bienal de São Paulo, 12th Bienal de Mercosur and 22nd Bienal Paiz.