Sharon Pérez's journey in the 'The Mask is Looking at Us' artist residency

Sharon Pérez with Andrés Medina Cerrogrande in her fieldwork in las Yungas, Bolivia

BY SDCELAR team, Sharon Pérez, | POSTED IN Blog

The following video shows how Afro-Bolivian artist Sharon Pérez developed her artist residency with SDCELAR, from las Yungas in Bolivia to the final performance at the British Museum.

‘The Mask is Looking at Us’ is the result of a journey that started with a fieldwork trip in Bolivia followed by a visit to the Andean carnival masks collection in the British Museum. In her performance and along the process of creation, Sharon reflects on Afro-representation and black identities in Latin America and the Andes.

“Heritage cannot be something that denigrates a community, that tramples like straw the historical values of peoples and their identity”, says the Afro-Bolivian historian Juan Angola Maconde when referring to Afro-descendant representation in Andean carnival dances. Sharon visited him among other community representatives during her fieldwork in Bolivia. 

Watch the full video here (English subtitles):

 

 

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