This morning, after a preceding day of land-centring ritual, I woke up with the inspiration for my art action at La Pola.
La Pola refers to Policarpa Salavarrieta (c. 26 January 1795 – 14 November 1817), a seamtress and spy for the revolutionary forces who, after her public execution by firing squad in historically/politically charged Plaza de Bogotá, is celebrated today the Heroine of the Colombian Independence.
The day after Olga first arrived in the city, the first thing she did was to take me to the statue of La Pola. Unlike what may be rightfully expected given her crucial role in the decades of the journey toward Colombia's independence from colonial powers, the statue of La Pola is not situated in centrally in Plaza de Bolívar (Bolívar Square) opposite the statue of ubiquitously celebrated liberator Simon Bolívar but instead, at the northern edge of the historic neighbourhood of La Candelaria.
Throughout the week, as Olga and I spoke about the role of forgotten women in Colombian history, I remembered the recent performance-for-live-broadcast of Mestiza she manifested for Night/shift at The Citadel in Toronto. We also spoke about her experience of growing up in Bogotá as a young female and navigating safety and dealing with/learning to avoid violations of her personal/physical boundaries. At some point, it became evident that we had to do an action at the statue of La Pola. We agreed that we would do a duet of actions-each of us doing a brief action at the statue of La Pola on Eje Ambiental: Olga manifesting a dance-action and I offering a ritual-action before we headed toward the Plaza de Bol for our joint art action.
Below is a poster near the statue of La Pola that says: "Abortion is a historical debt with women". La Pola masked in a green handkerchief in Latin America as symbolic of the right of women to have safe, legal and free abortion. I learned that the colour violet is representative of the feminist struggles in Latin America and "Ni Una Menos" is a phrase in Spanish for "Not one [woman] less"), a Latin American fourth-wave grassroots feminist movement originating in Argentina and spreading to many Latin American countries that campaigns against gender-based violence.
On the day before (October 13, 2021), I had taken a solo expedition with Fabiola and Oscar, respective guide and guide/driver from Colombia Oculta (Hidden Colombia), a tourism company I found through an internet search when I was looking to visit the Chingaza páramo (Andean Moorlands). We visited Laguna de Guatavita, one of the sacred sites of the Indigenous peoples whose territory the city of Bogotá occupies (named after the Muisca settlement of Bacatá)
as well as the 400+ year old salt mines in nearby Spanish colonial town of Nemocón
Toward the end of the day, Fabiola revealed in casual conversation that La Pola was a marketing tactic to transition locals from Indigenous chicha (fermented corn beer) to wheat-based beer. When I spoke with Olga about it, she affirmed that even though the La Pola branded beer no longer exists, Colombians colloquially refer to a beer as "una pola". My art action was a ritual gesture toward conjoining "Pola" with "pola".
I welcome you to check out the videos posted on our project site.
Coman
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