KURHIRANI NO AMBAKITI (QUEMAR AL DIABLO): PORQUE SÓLO ASÍ NOS ESCUCHAN, 2020

Video documentation of the ritual burning carried out in Arantepacua, Michoacan, Mexico, on December 4, 2020 / Wood, reed, papier-mâché and fireworks

11:30 min

Cross-stitched textiles by female embroiders of Arantepacua

Cross-stitched textiles by female embroiders of Arantepacua

Cross-stitched textiles by female embroiders of Arantepacua

Cross-stitched textiles by female embroiders of Arantepacua

Quadraphonic installation (stereo version) / Interviews with Arantepacua community members

By Arantepacua’s Communal Indigenous Council 2019-2021 & Adela Goldbard

The core of Kurhirani no ambakiti is what happened on April 5, 2017, in the P’urhepecha community of Arantepacua, when more than 400 elements of the Michoacan police, armed civilians and army forces entered the town and attacked the community aboard more than 50 pick-up trucks, patrol cars, three helicopters and a “rhinoceros” tactical armored tank, in an operation that resulted in four community members dead and nine detained. Kurhirani no ambakiti presents a chronology of these events through a series of interviews with community members and through textiles created by local female embroiderers based on photographs from the communal archive of the clashes. Pyrotechnicians from Cheran, another self-governed P’urhépecha community of the region, were commissioned with the elaboration of a life-size rhinoceros, as an allegorical representation of the vehicle used by the police forces and the harm and evil it represents for the community. After being carried in a procession through the town, the paper-mâché rhinoceros was destroyed with fireworks in the main plaza, while local musicians performed commissioned pirekuas (traditional music from the region) that narrated and remembered the events of 2017 and the community’s subsequent fight for self-governance. 400 ceramic devils (diablitos), a traditional craft from the P’urhépecha community of Ocumicho, dressed with police and military uniforms and on board 55 wooden police cars made in Pichátaro, another neighboring self-governed P’urhépecha community, complete the installation. The project proposes a conjunction of popular art and community-engaged processes that makes visible the excessive use of violence of the government and its agencies while contributing to the reconstruction of the collective memory of Arantepacua.

Commissioned by the XIV FEMSA Biennial, Michoacan, Mexico, 2020

Arantepacua, making-of, and testimonies of community members (trilingual), 2020-23

Video documentation of art workshop, Arantepacua’s main plaza, Summer 2021.

In honor of the community of Arantepacua, their struggle and the victims of the attack on April 5, 2017: Estudiante Luis Gustavo Hernández Cohenete, Comunero Francisco Jiménez Alejandre, Enfermero José Carlos Jiménez Crisóstomo, Comunero Santiago Crisanto Luna

Menkixi uantakuriakaxi ka noxi meni kuantantojka kuapini juchari ambe
Siempre alzaremos la voz ante la injusticia,
nunca nos cansaremos de defender lo nuestro
AUTONOMÍA, AUTOGOBIERNO Y LIBRE DETERMINACIÓN

Installation shots: Aratepacua, December 4, 2020 / Centro Cultural Clavijero, Morelia, December 11, 2020 – February 15, 2021. Photo and video: Marco Antonio López Valenzuela

CREDITS:

Arantepacua’s Communal Indigenous Council 2019-2021: Valentín Jiménez Montaño, Adelina Valdéz Álvarez, Francisco Cohenete Hernández, Marco Antonio Pascual Jiménez, Florentino Jiménez Álvarez, Juana Morales Hernández, Delfino Cohenete Álvarez, Juana Jiménez Antonio, Miguel Crisóstomo Salvador, Minerva Montaño Crisanto, Luis Miguel Ángel Álvarez, Luis Soria López

The swarm

Sculptures: Ángela Esteban Felipe, Ocumicho, Domitila Felipe Marcelo, Ocumicho, José Octavio de la Cruz Álvarez, Pichátaro, Baltazar, Domingo e Ignacio Ramos Guerrero, Cherán

Resistance Embroidered Archive

Archive images: Archivo Comunero Auani Pascual, Archivo Prof. José Luis Martínez Alonso,

Arantepacua’s Communal Indigenous Council 2019-2021/ Embriodery: Magdalena Jiménez Montaño, Cecilia Jiménez Montaño, Marbella Jiménez Quinto, Marbella Jiménez Gonzales, Juana Crisóstomo Crisóstomo, Fidelina Álvarez Jiménez, María Elena Morales Olivo, Maria de los Ángeles Jiménez Morales and embroiderers from Turícuaro / Interviews: Prof. José Luis Martínez Alonso, Prof. Hugo Martínez, Alonso, Prof. Elpidio Cohenete Olivo, Prof. José Cuitláhuac Crisóstomo Olivo, Prof. José Guadalupe Morales, Auani Pascual, Magdalena Jiménez Montaño, Cecilia Jiménez Montaño, Juana Morales Hernández, Valentín Jiménez Montaño, Adelina Valdéz Álvarez, Salomón Cohenete Baltazar, Adán Galván Jiménez, María Bautista Cisneros / Editing: Adela Goldbard / Cuadrafonía

Diego Martínez, Suplex Estudio

Pirekuas in memoriam

Music: Trio Joskua, Arantepacua / Composition of Pirekua Juchiti iréteri uekua: Sacramento Jiménez Jiménez, Pirekuas 5 de abril y Mintsita: Carlos Alfredo Quinto Ruiz, First and second voice and requinto: Sacramento Jiménez Jiménez, First voice and accompaniment: Carlos Alfredo Quinto Ruiz, Double bass: Juan Jesus Ramirez Jimenez // Pireris JIMÉNEZ jarhan pakua anapu, Arantepacua / Composition and music of Pirekua del 5 de abril: Prof. Primitivo Jiménez Crisóstomo, Letter and voice of the poem: Prof. José Cuitláhuac Crisóstomo Olivo, First voice and requinto: Cristofer Jiménez Cohenete, Second voice and accompaniment: Prof. Primitivo Jiménez Crisóstomo, Double bass: Juan Jesús Ramírez Jiménez // Areli Olvera Clemente, Zamora, Juchari uinapikua, composition and voice // Israel Morales, Arantepacua, El llamado del caracol, composition and voice // Studio recording and master: Kuri Morales, Cherán

Special thanks: Prof. Francisco Hernández, Teresa Prado Estrada, Anita Soria Sebastián, Celia Morales Maldonado, María Rosa Cohenete Policarpio, Natividad Cohenete Alvino, Juan Márquez Olivo, Cupatitzio Piña, Francisco Rosas, Francisco Huaroco, Daniel Garza-Usabiaga, Juan Carlos Jiménez, Marco Antonio López Valenzuela, José Luis Arroyo Robles, Livier Jara, Nuria Montiel, Circe Irasema.