Aliento. Tradycja i współczesność w instalacji Oscara Muñoza (Kolumbia)

Abstrakt

Like many contemporary artists, Oscar Muñoz invokes the issues of memory and evanescence. This article analyses his work entitled Aliento (Breath) from 1995. It consists of round, concave mirrors, 20 centimetres in diameter each, placed on the gallery wall. The installation is interactive: when the viewers approach it to see their reflection, their breaths also draw out other faces – those of people lost to social and political conflicts haunting contemporary Colombia. On the one hand, the artist invokes the traditional religious archetype of creating new life with one’s breath, present in many belief systems. On the other hand, we can regard his work as a commentary on modern-day Colombia, marked with violence, death and pain of loss of people who passed away suddenly and prematurely – like the eponymous breath.