THE RITUAL EXPRESSION OF DONNA HUANCA, AT TRAVESÍA CUATRO
Álvaro de Benito
At its Madrid venue Travesía Cuatro presents Las niñas del altiplano, an exhibition that forms the second chapter of Donna Huanca’s (Chicago, United States, 1980) first solo show in this space. While in Lengua de Bartolina Sisa (2017) the Bolivian-American artist paid a personal tribute to the heroine who led the Indigenous revolution against colonialism in the 18th century, her most recent proposal focuses on the female body and psyche, seeking reconstruction on all levels and instrumentalizing ritual as a means of repair oriented toward the future.
Huanca advocates for the abolition of the status of the feminine as mere passive figures, ultimately endowing them with a sovereign power that allows for transformative action. The gallery once again becomes a stage, an immersive space covered with the customary cellophane that constitutes part of the essence of the artist’s most recognizable language. Omnipresent in the room, there are also chambers endowed with a sacred character.
The construction of these spaces, akin to those used in ceremonial contexts, opens toward new dimensions and elevates the transcendence of ritual. The resulting areas become sites of tension between observing and being observed, between transparency and opacity, creating through these dichotomies a rereading of the space of power.
If the relationship with space is vital throughout the exhibition, the arrangement of large-format oils and pigments, alternating with pre-Columbian idols, unveils a new reinterpretation of gesture and of the act of claiming. Her paintings again recall topographic reliefs, surfaces formed from a corporeal and organic genesis, where expressive force and physicality underscore their importance.
Huanca also advocates for a fully sensorial experience and spares no effort in claiming sound as an essential part of it. A subtle form of sound art envelops the visitor, trapping them in an environment that resonates with the primordial and the atavistic, transforming the space into the necessary atmosphere to traverse an imaginary that, beyond establishing the artist’s own identity, expands its boundaries with an increasingly captivating conceptual line.
Donna Huanca. Las niñas del altiplano can be seen until November 13 at Travesía Cuatro, San Mateo 16, Madrid (Spain).
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