Time and place: Oct. 30, 2020–Jan. 15, 2021, The Historical Museum
Carlos Jacanamijoy is a Colombian painter of native South American origin of the Inga people. His artwork has been exhibited in more than 25 individual shows and is part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of the American Indian as well as several Colombian museums. He lives in New York City. “Songs of memory” is his first exhibition in Norway.
This selection of 16 oil paintings and a single backdrop in acrylic on unprimed canvas, most of them large-format, is a brief tour from his first works to the most recent ones this year.
Carlos Jacanamijoy:
«Canvases such as "Not just for fun" (No sólo como diversión) or "The pitchfork" (La horqueta), are colorful winks to Jacanamijoys grandparents. "Paths of Light" (Caminos de luz) is a look into the interior journey that we all had to experience in the confinement when we were temporarily forced to move away from the overwhelming noise outside.
Over the years, I have realized that intuitively I started by paying tribute to the guardians of ancient wisdom. Because of my parents' stubbornness, I had a very close childhood with the earth and my culture and thus learned to love my history. In the first canvases, I began to tell, with colors, as in a diary, what motivated me from my experiences.
So, one day, in the years leading to the debate about the fifth centenary of the "discovery of the new world," I went in search of my memories which, under the pressure of white hegemony, had been frozen for a long time. Thawing that personal history led me to unveil and understand the history of a continent. A painting like "Intersection" (Intersección) is a journey into the interior of any personal history.
For me, this exhibition in this month, once again in October, is a memorable cultural encounter. Over the years that I have been painting, I have realized that my painting is a journey into memory, perceptions, and feelings and that painting is an act of love: I hope that this exhibition will bring us together.»
