Residencia Territorio, Sierra Nevada, Colombia, 2022
RESIDENCIA TERRITORIO (Territorio Art Residency),
Sierra Nevada, Santa Marta, Colombia, 2022
PARRA-MAR
We arrived at the estate at night, and walked through a palm tree forest to reach our open-air rooms, which seemed to be taken out of a Gabriel García Márquez novel. Tulle covered the beds, and candles illuminated the whole place. I had landed with a suitcase with wheels, and felt that everything I had brought was unnecessary. I was in paradise and didn’t need anything. The first night I slept intoxicated by the sounds of the sea, birds, crickets, and howler monkeys.
At dawn, we walked to the beach to watch the sunrise. In the Caribbean the sun sets very early, so we functioned according to its schedule.
Luis Ángel gave us lessons on geography and history of the indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada. We walked along the deserted beach guarded by a palm tree forest to the mouth of the Guachaca River, which at dawn produced a symmetrical reflection: it looked like a large Rorschach test or a huge prehistoric reptile lying down. We ate mango and papaya ceviche with plantain chips, “Carita”soup with coconut milk, and fuchsia-colored beet soup with sour cream and cucumber. We drank Campari with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. At night, we read poetry aloud while the sea roared and the candles burned.
One night, a farm worker with engineering skills built an impressive and sculptural bonfire, which served as a stage for a long and beautiful gathering on the beach. During the last morning in Parramar, each of us planted a small palm tree in the white sand at the entrance to the beach, in a beautiful and emotional ritual where we all promised to return to take care of our botanical sprout.
PARRA-RIO
To reach the second station, we crossed the Guachaca River in a canoe with all our belongings: food, hammocks, backpacks. We arrived at a farm with individual constructions: rooms connected by a long corridor filled with colorful hammocks facing a refreshing pool, where a small solitary frog was swimming. We walked to the main house through a lush tropical garden full of wonders: Yarumos, iraca palms, soursops, pineapple plantations, and heliconias, which were unknown to me and served as a starting point for a new series of works. In the kitchen, Claudia peeled enormous and magnificent soursops that were served for breakfast with hot chocolate and arepas with eggs. Edyson, a friendly and talkative descendant of the Wayuu ethnic group, gave us a botanical tour as we collected species. In a large shed we managed to make monoprints of our collected treasures, with black ink on handmade cotton paper. Grimm, a beautiful German shepherd lay beside us on the floor, while the homeowners, María Eugenia and Luis Ángel, watched our experimental work. They are an unusual couple: cultured, sensitive, affectionate, and lovers of life and the natural wonders that surround them.
TECHO-ROJO
The last part of our adventure is worthy of a García Márquez novel. The morning we began our ascent as Alexander Humboldt climbed the Sierra Nevada, María Eugenia organized a marathon packing of bedding, tulle, kitchen utensils, and food, all impeccably wrapped in “lulos” or capsule-shaped suitcases that the mules would carry. Ana María, Verónica, María Eugenia, Fernando and I walked slowly uphill along a jungle path with the Guachaca River always visible. “Techo-rojo” or the large house-cabin that awaited us above a white sandy beach along the river, was a large common room for everyone and completely open towards the landscape. Wilmer and Ismael set up a sequence of beds that seemed to come out straight out of a fairy tale, and we slept in unison listening to a concert of sounds of nature.
That afternoon, we all swam in the river towards a heavenly beach with Grimm, the aquatic German shepherd by our side. We were baptized in the river with “tutuma,” a pot of vegetable origin made of fruit from the totumo tree. In that moment, I understood the meaning of “feeling” the territory and its nature.
Thank you Edyson, Claudia, Wilmer, Ismael, Arelis, Juan Antonio, Hermes, Miguel, Hermes Manuel, Tania, Nicole, Ana María, Marilú, Verónica, and Fernando for being part of this wonderful collective bond.
Many thanks to María Eugenia and Luis Ángel for making us part of their small paradise.
Ximena Velasco
Colombia, January 2022.