River Claure – “Seres y Montañas”

Reception: September 6th, 2023, 6 - 9 pm
_VIGILGONZALES Cusco - Pampa del Castillo 455, Cusco

_VIGILGONZALES is pleased to present "Seres y Montañas", a solo exhibition by Bolivian photographer River Claure. This selection of images invites us to imagine, through different characters and scenes, new worlds and possible identities in a transnational Andean space. 

Claure, through his images, seeks to refer to two concepts: beings and mountains. However, through them we can see that they are not separate or exclusive concepts but are intertwined with each other and help us to make sense of and understand part of our identity. By resorting to elements considered as "traditional" and others as global, scenes are constructed that bring together both to create an imagined situation that invites the spectator to question the existing dilemmas with respect to identity and what is conceived as indigenous. 

The "Cerro Virgin" is one of the beings (and mountains) that appear in Claure's images. She plays with Christian symbols in particular, partly alluding to the role of Catholicism in the colonial conquest of Bolivia, but more often underlining the multiple layers of understanding and existence in national identity. The two images in which this character appears reflect the Virgin Mary, but also Pachamama, the figure of Mother Earth in Aymara culture. The detail of showing an image of the same character in black and white alludes to a forthcoming series, to which this image belongs, which will reflect the image of Pachamama.