Yagua Ko

 

Corporality and language are the beams and columns of the Yagua Ko series. Yagua, which comes from the indigenous voice of many peoples of the Caribbean and South America, in the Arawak of the Tainos is the enveloping tissue of the upper part of the trunk of the palms that is detaches with growth. Ko, from the Haitian Creole Kó, which means body.

Our narrative is full of disruptive moments, phantom potholes, and collective amnesia imposed by our flawed educational system. I question a history manipulated to the political / religious interest of the moment. The integration of Creole in my works is the vindication of a silenced half. There are several themes that I introduce in yagua Ko, the mask, decomposition / transformation, decolonization / de-patriarchalization, new masculinity, diversity, indigenous tribes and peoples as a spiritual link with the earth-entity of which we are part and an example of low-impact climate societies at a time of inevitable shift in consciousness.

Materials.

My environmental concerns are getting stronger every day. Living in intimate contact with nature for some years has been a consistent choice with my thinking that has transformed my way of working. The materials that I use come from my immediate environment and go back largely to the same place where they came from, closing the natural cycle.

Tree snakes, the dried leaves of the elephant's foot, the flowers, that of the muses, the banana, the banana and the curler, Guarí or Red Mate seeds that grow in the forest, the Oxeye seeds, fig trees, grass guinea, the feathers of a woodpecker that crashed with its own reflection in a glass window, Ceibas spurs, male Hawthorn spurs, Jabillas spurs, a piece of a coconut spathe. Chaotic elements that acquire new meanings in the conformation of my pieces

Actions

Male fragility is the essence-consciousness that still leads me in the Yagua Ko processes.

Although my interest in masculinities still predominates in my narrative, the non-binary in gender identity is introduced. Taking as reference the mythology of native peoples such as the Taíno. Yocahú, the god of yucca is born from the feminine principle of the world, Atabey, without the need for male fertilization or without antecedents. It is known that many indigenous cultures were not governed by questions of binary genders. The outfits that I have been creating for the pieces are full of tribal winks and in the actions of the models, zoo forms prevail.

I try to mimic the action with the natural or recreated environment, documenting the natural elements used. I like to compose actions that speak of balance, discomfort, the narratives of tribes, of trees that have accompanied me in the reconstruction of my memory. When I put it on paper I tell it like a little story, as if it were a page from a comic, this round about a family of a tree, the tribes are always in daily actions-rituals, I like the representation of animals, plants, fungi, tropical futurism is part of the imaginary and textiles as inspiration, an example of Madras, a textile originating from the homonymous region of India, an aesthetic that has influenced part of the African culture and its Caribbean diaspora. Fluidity, opposites, duality, movement and identities.