During Malmö Gallerihelg, we open the exhibitions I skuggan av metropolen and Visions from Abya Yala. Visions from Abya Yala expresses perspectives from nine different artists from Latin America who use different materials and artistic techniques to create their own pictures about their territory and society.

Even though America is an invented construct used to define and encompass a very diverse territory found in the XVI century for Western exploitation purposes, and later on – after the independence of the colonies in the XIX century – the term Latin America came up as a fiction for the Imperialist context, the history and consequences of these events in Abya Yala are the thread that nowadays connects the cultural memory of the people raised in this particular geographical space.

Since pre-Columbian times, migration has been an important action that allowed communities to survive. In Sweden, Latin American migration began in the decade of the 70’s during a very complex political context, and from that moment on, a bridge was created through which the migratory flow, in one way or another, has been maintained.

When someone migrates they carry the uncertainty of the new horizon they’ll be facing, but they also take with them the roots of their culture, their values and the cosmovision of the place in which they were raised.

Like migration, which involves the crossing of some defined geographical boundaries, art crosses the limits between reality and spirituality, content and form, color and gesture, humanity and nature, mythology and archaeological remains and reveals what underlies in our inner selves as an expression of our spirit and cultures. In a way, art is always a form of invoking and going back home.

From painting to textiles, colors and objects, this exhibition celebrates the cultural and creative diversity of Abya Yala, but also the reception that migrants have had in Swedish society.

Abya Yala in the Kuna language means "land in its full maturity" or "blossoming land", this term is the first known for describing the "American" territory and it's used in opposition to the colonial term of America or New World.

Curatorial text by Ana Piquer.

Artists:
Juan Cano – Uruguay
Bélgica Castro – Chile
Koki Lacherre – Perú
Mikel Lecumberri – México / Spain
Max Medina – Chile
Sandy Meneses – Ecuador
NoroN – México
Ana Piquer – México
Agostina Vilar – Argentina

Workshops:

• 1 Oct: Textiles and family workshop about Arpilleras with Bélgica Castro
• 15 Oct: Watercolor workshop with Sandy Meneses Polo
• 29 Oct: Intuitive Painting with Agostina Vilar