from the series "Martirios / Suburbios" (Martyrdom / Suburbs), 1983,
from the series "Ambulantes / Suburbios" (Wanderer / Suburbs), 1983
from the series "Ambulantes / Suburbios" (Wanderer / Suburbs), 1983
from the series "Ambulantes / Suburbios" (Wanderer / Suburbs), 1983
from the series "Celdas" (Cells), 1985–87
from the series "Celdas" (Cells), 1985–87
from the series "Estampas" (Prayer Cards), 1982
from the series "Estampas" (Prayer Cards), 1982
from the series "Estampas" (Prayer Cards), 1982
from the series "Rosa Cordis", 1986
from the series "Symbolos–Huellas de un crimen" (Symbols–Traces of a Crime), 1985-86
from the series "Symbolos–Huellas de un crimen" (Symbols–Traces of a Crime), 1985-86
from the series "Que tu carne es el cielo recién nacido (Miguel Hernández)" [Cause your Flesh is the New Born Sky (Miguel Hernández)], 1983
from the series "Que tu carne es el cielo recién nacido (Miguel Hernández)" [Cause your Flesh is the New Born Sky (Miguel Hernández)], 1983
from the series "Rosas" (Roses), 1982
from the series "Rosas" (Roses), 1982

Sergio Zevallos: A Wandering Body

INTRODUCTION

Württembergischer Kunstverein is presenting the exhibition A Wandering Body: Sergio Zevallos in the Chaclacayo Group from October 18, 2014 to January 11, 2015.

The show, initiated by Kunstmuseum Lima (MALI) and added to by Württembergischer Kunstverein, gives a comprehensive insight into the oeuvre of the artist Sergio Zevallos, born in Lima in 1962, consisting of drawings, collages, photographs, installations and performances. The focus is on those works which he developed in the 1980s and 1990s as a member of the Chaclacayo group (1982–1994).

Zevallos’ works, showcased by the Kunstverein at the group show Subversive Practices in 2009 and this year at the 31st Biennial of São Paulo, revolve around the relations between body, sexuality, religion, and sociopolitical relations of power and violence – the latter above all in the context of armed political conflicts in Peru in the 1980s.

For this purpose he appropriates motifs from Christian and Andean iconography, folk art, and the mass media, combining them with a queer aesthetic praxis.

Together with Helmut J. Psotta and Raúl Avellaneda, the other two members of the Chaclacayo group, he has created works based on their own bodies and the simplest of materials, works which opposed their social environment marked by violence, machismo, death and homophobia by means of bodily, aesthetic and sexual disobedience.

Zevallos’ works from this period include performances that borrow from the choreographies and requisites of Catholic rites and processions; blasphemous overpaintings of prayer cards, particularly with motifs of Saint Rose of Lima; photoseries of cultic actions ranging between torture, ecstasy and sacrifice; drawings in which body organs and objects, heavenly and diabolical creatures, the human being and animals are inextricably interwoven – and much more.

Images of Saint Rose of Lima, America’s first martyr, canonised by Pope Clement X in 1671 in the course of the evangelisation of South America, feature repeatedly. In countless overpaintings, collages and photographic reenactments, they are pervaded with monstrous, violent and obscene allusions and transvestic scenes. Seen as symbols of the religious and state legitimation of oppression and violence, Zevallos negotiates them between iconoclasm, appropriation and revaluation.

The martyrdom of the lives of the saints, acts of extreme violence in Peru, and colonialism, but also the exploitative practices of neoliberalism in the 1980s in the so called “underdeveloped” countries or problems such as HIV/Aids, and homophobic violence all play a role in Zevallos’ works.

Photoseries such as Suburbios (suburbs) from 1983 revolve around funerary and sacrificial rituals, the motif of the bride of god, militarism, the inquisition and fascism – themes that are woven together in different variations. The photo-scenarios of Suburbios were shot in barren landscapes, urban non-places or unfinished and abandoned buildings. The requisites that feature in Zevallos’ joint photoseries and performances include doll’s heads and skulls, veils, hats, ribbons, plastic film, creatures made of tights and stuffing, texts and newspaper articles, and much more.

The works of Zevallos and the Chaclacayo group were exhibited at the ifa gallery in Stuttgart, among other venues, in 1989. The current show at Württembergischer Kunstverein focuses on Zevallos’ works, setting out, in particular, to reformulate the performance-based installations carried out in Lima, Stuttgart, Berlin, Dresden and other places in the 1980s and 1990s.

The exhibition was curated by Miguel A. Lopez, who already showcased Zevallos’ works at the Kunstverein in 2009 as co-curator of Subversive Practices.

The show is accompanied by a catalogue (Spanish/English) with texts by Miguel A. López, Beatriz Preciado and Fernanda Carvajal, among others, and a discussion with Jaime Higa, Miguel A. López, Frido Martin, Alfredo Márquez and Sergio Zevallos.





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