Promise
"I come before you one more year to fulfill my promise, the one I swore to you one day..."
I got to know the traditional religious festival "Fiesta Grande de Tarija" in southern Bolivia, in 2014, which has San Roque as protector. The thousands of promisees, who receive the name of "chunchos", invade the streets with their colorful costumes, dancing to the repetitive sound of drums and arrows, many with sincere tears of devotion and gratitude for the promises kept, those were exexperiences that flooded my soul and took control of my brushes, that is how I became a promising painter.
Through art year after year I explore this devotion and tradition, just like the faithful pilgrims, in the month of the festivity I carry out a series of works regardless of where I am, that is myi promise. For me it is not a matter of religion but rather a manifestation of energy that is felt and a free expression of faith, beyond being cultural it is something spiritual, this experience marked my art.
Patio del Cabildo Art Gallery Exhibition, Tarija, Bolivia (2015)
Exhibition Art Gallery 21, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (2016)
Series of works, Samaipata, Bolivia (2017)
Video with live painting, Santa Cruz, Bolivia (2018)
Series of works, San Javier, Bolivia (2019)
Series of works, São José dos Campos, Brazil (2020)
Series of works, Campinas, Brazil (2021)
MIRÁ Art Fair, Santa Cruz, Bolivia (2022)
The "chuncho" dance is a tradition that has been maintained over the years and is inherited from generation to generation, bringing together more than five thousand promisers asking or thanking for health. Its origin dates back to leprosy patients who were quarantined in the nearby community of Lazareto and went out to ask for water and food with their faces covered, in their pleas to San Roque they asked for healing.
