"The Warawar Wawa project, Son of the Stars in the Aymara language, proposes an alternative Bolivian identity that, without denying the western footprint, is conscious of its roots."
Artist: River Claure
Project: Warawar Wawa
"The expression chi’xi, an undefined colour close to grey that Aymara women create by weaving two juxtaposed layers, serves as a symbolic reference within this work that the mixed, diverse society of Bolivia presents, using an imaginary of the fantastic.
For years, the photographic representation of Bolivia, like
that of the global south, has been limited to reductionist, folklorising Western narratives. The simplified, homogenized image of Bolivian culture and identity has focused on certain ethnic components, influencing the imaginary that its citizens project when they think of themselves. The visual canons
that were established through the foreign photographic gaze, deployed during the rise of the industrial revolution, capitalism and colonialism, have long marked the way in which Bolivians imagine their own country, their identity and their territory."
"The Warawar Wawa project, Son of the Stars in the Aymara language, proposes an alternative Bolivian identity that, without denying the western footprint, is conscious of its roots. Recontextualizing the novel The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, in the contemporary Andean culture, I place this story in the “extraterrestrial” landscapes of the Andes, where the protagonist child wears an FC Barcelona jersey."
© River Claure
Editor : Ecaterina Rusu