So many times, apümngeiñ

2016

Installation: Resin, mud and video. 500 x 60 cm.

The project “Tantas veces apümngeiñ” (So many times, apümngeiñ) was born after the research of the authors Conrado Zumelzu, Hernán Curiñir and Pablo Silva on executed and missing people in Chile that belonged to the Mapuche nation, between 1973-1990. The research took place in January 2016 in Temuco, Chile. From the reading of the research and subsequent selection, 179 of the enlisted Mapuche last names were worked with, which mostly worked in areas related to the land and the agriculture. The shown sculpture that is part of this installation is the reflection of the artist’s father: a man with Mapuche inheritance, resident of the Santiago Metropolitan Region who works as a greengrocer. Despite not having a direct link to the land work, the subject has direct contact with the vegetables, being his hands and body affected similarly to an actual land worker. Behind the body there is the phrase “Tantas veces apümngeiñ” broken down to is explanation in the following way: Ap (deriv. “Af”) to finish, to put an end to something. Üm: causative suffix, to cause something. Nge: passive voice, removes the agent of the action and puts the direct object as a subject. Iñ: verbal suffix for the first-person plural: we. Translation: “we were annihilated/finished” (Apümngeiñ).

The materiality used in this work consists of soil extracted from the Araucanía Region, mixed with resin. With these materials the body and text are constituted. The shown video in the installation was recorded in Collinco, next to Licanray, Araucanía Region, place where the artist extracts the soil, prepares its use, and finally returns it to its origin. The image is accompanied by a sound recording with the translations of each one of the chosen last names to the Spanish language.

Translation: Cristián Vargas Paillahueque