AVISTAMIENTO

Sighting started in 2009 in New York City when for the first time I started to bird watch.This activity made understood the strong relationship we have (as humans) with birds and the connection we establish with others through them. The first year I followed different birds until I had the chance to “see” something similar to what I described, without any knowledge, as an eagle. The Biologist that I used to walk with gave me the exact name of the bird, gave me a detailed description of his feathers, explained the migrating habits and behavior.

Scientific data has been a great source of knowledge to generate rational and conceptual background for my performances but this time the encounter with the Bird (Buteo Swainsoni) and the additional information I was able to collect, created a personal interest on this specific bird of prey. The migrating path of the Buteo Swainsoni is similar to the one I have sustained these last years while traveling from North America to South America. As soon as I realized the similarity of our journeys, I set myself to travel along with the birds in order to return to Colombia after 16 years of living in the US.

A year after I started my research on the hawk, I was invited to participate as an artist in residency by Jose Roca; director of FLORA ARS NATURA in Bogota. I proposed Sighting knowing the migrating path of the bird will allow me to stay in HONDA* and make it on time to possibly see the birds as we both (the birds and I) arrived to Colombia.

Birds are messengers, conductors of several of the relationships I stablished during my journey. While trying to keep my research as rational as possible I started to notice subtleties and events around that made me shift the way I was perceiving the experience of watching the bird and actually understand deeply the reason behind the bird.

Sighting or Avistar (translation of sighting to Spanish) is not only the act of watching birds, is an activity that re-connects our bodies to the beauty of the world around us, making us aware of the delicate balance required to maintain life. While bird watching I stablished relationships with amazing human beings who and made me aware of the magic of certain moments when a bird becomes visible after hours or years of waiting.

My body shifted from the visual image to the images generated by sound or temperature or smell. Light, humidity, water…each element and your body have to be on time and in place in order to be able “TO SEE”.

As I traveled with the “Aguila Cuaresmera” (addressing the 40 days before Easter during which many Christians do not eat certain foods or do certain pleasurable activities as a way of remembering the suffering of Jesus Christ) which is the name the bird acquires as it enters Colombia, I realized the project was not only about birds. The bird was showing me along the way an incredible network of human beings that made possible each part of this journey while discovering a world I had forgotten. It showed me the magnitude of small things, the relevance of trust and honesty, the power underneath a feather.

One year and a half after the project started (2014), I was arriving to Colombia without seeing the actual bird, I had heard his songs and recorded his voice but never saw him during the long trajectory. It was only when I arrived to Honda*, while traveling the amazonian river that the bird saw me, we saw each other and the project emerged.

DESCRIPTION

Sighting is divided in two phases:

While in the earth: All works involving drawings, videos, documentation of performances, texts, installations and objects. This phase addresses the intricate relationship between the body, object-hood, memory and concepts such as reality and matter .

2. While in the air: This phase encompasses all the performances and actions while exhibiting the project. It underlines such activities and processes that are ephemeral allowing the experience of each piece to be the basic core of the composition.