En la tierra que habito

Ana Lucia Garcia Hoefken

2023

En la tierra que habito, ceramics

179 x 66 x 38 cm

"In this work, García Hoefken presents a ceramic vessel, intervened with chains, aiming to open a question about the 'decontextualization' of objects from material culture through the dynamics of patrimonialization and artification that constitute the modern museal tradition. Through various artistic explorations, combining concepts and methodologies related to 'ecology, geology, chemistry, and physics,' García Hoefken focuses on recognizing the material agencies from which she works to explore their multiple symbolic possibilities. This process starts with her treatment of the 'inert' as 'animated' to intimately understand the object's perspective.

The arrangement of elements suggests a process of capture, decontextualization, and resignification, which she critically values as a form of breaking the object from its material and functional origin. She invites the viewer to become an accomplice through a gaze that fixes the object on the wall while simultaneously challenging exhibition norms by crafting the chains from the same material that makes up the vessel."

- Carlos Zevallos Trigoso, curator of the ICPNA Art Contemporary Prize 2023

Desde la tierra en la que habito is a project that speaks about the decontextualization of ceramic crafts, a result of their imposition in environments different from their conception. It questions the alienation of these objects, displayed in museums, where they are taken out of their original context, far from their true function and practical, integrative value.

The vessels are bodies formed with the earth they inhabit. Through repetitive movements and internalized choreographies, the artisan transcends individuality and channels the identity of a collective in the pieces they produce. They are part of a social ecosystem and thus shape a living sense of belonging and unity within their cultural context.

This project aims to rescue the role that these bodies play in the processes of correspondence in society. If we acknowledge their agency, it becomes senseless to remove them from their place of origin to elevate them on pedestals, forcing them to parade alongside foreign bodies. Enclosed in display cases, they become prisoners of museums, reduced to inert objects instead of embracing their processes of transformation and incorporation. This body projects on its skin the longing for its return, fossilizing its materiality. It demonstrates its vitality and fundamental purpose of maintaining cultural identity and collective memory.

- Ana Lucia Garcia Hoefken