Artist Talk: Chuquimamani-Condori

Please join us in welcoming artist Chuquimamani-Condori for a program in conjunction with Donna Huanca: MAGMA SLIT. Her talk, titled "Tunupa Saraskakiwa Thakhipa (Tunupa Still Walks)," will analyze the archives of Comunidad Diversidad, including images and texts from Dr. Jorge Vargas Condori, Carlos Sangines, Adan Quiroga, Lohana Berkins, and others. She will demonstrate a queer or q'iwsa/q'iwa understanding of the divine Tunupa and their path across/as water. Based on ayni, the concept and practice of reciprocity among Andean mountain communities, Chuquimamani-Condori will offer a reading rooted in the Aymara word jiwasa, meaning "we, then me;” the root of jiwasa is “jiwa,” meaning death, and thus includes the dead in the concept of “we” or “us.”

Chuquimamani-Condori is an artist and musician belonging to the Paka Jaqi nation of Aymara people. She was born east of Los Angeles county, occupied by the state of California, and raised by the maternal side with land ties in Ayllu Pahaza, Pacajes, and Nor Yungas, occupied by the state of Bolivia. She is grandchild of the jilakata Ricardo Chuquimia-Condori Casas and the great-great-grandchild of cacique apoderado, Francisco Tancara. She also works with the autonomous Southern California chapter of the American Indian Movement. The artist has shown and presented at Auto Italia in London, UK, Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany, and Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland.