Arder la casa explores the contingencies of political violence in Colombia through my family history and my father’s exile. In 2015, after finishing his term as mayor of a small town bordering Venezuela, my papa crossed the Colombian border — fleeing the political persecution he had been subjected to for decades. I remember him disappearing on different occasions when I was still a child. But fairy tales that my parents told me justified his absence. Now, for the first time, I could understand my family was fragmented and separated in the harshness of a country where political violence reaches the worst statistics in the world. Witchcraft, religion, socialism, and mafia culture are at play within the cultural environment of the story. My father’s exile marks an inflection point from which the project develops. Traveling between past, present, and future, I unveil our history to reveal traces of violence, separation, and cyclical escapes. The project utilizes archives such as pictures or newspaper clippings, paintings, analog photography, video, and sculpture.
Artist Bios
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Margarita V Beltran
Margarita V Beltran (she/her) is a Latina artist and photographer based in Germany and Colombia. She teaches decolonial photography at Bauhaus University. For a number of years, Beltran has worked on gender, race, and political violence in the context of Colombia and Germany. One of her most recent projects, Arder la casa, has been on display at the Michael Horbach Stiftung in the Cologne, Rizoma space in Palermo, Italy, as well as Photoville. Beltran is interested in the intersections between art, the politics of care, and online fabulations. She is a researcher on hybrid education in photography. She is also a member of the Native Agency.
Organizations
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
Arder la casa, on political violence, family and exile
Featuring: Margarita V Beltran
Curated by: Margarita V Beltran
Locations
View Location Details Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 1Old Fulton and Furman St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
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