Antigone, diary of rituals N.1 


White Thread and River Burial

Lara, Venezuela 2012 

Antigone, diary of rituals N.1: White Thread and River Burial 2012

Lara, VenezuelaHD video, audio, single-channel 13:17Camera: Livia Daza-Paris, Euro GarcíaPerformative action: Livia Daza-ParisEditor: Michael Poetschko
This work is part of my physical poems as interventions in Lara, Venezuela. They commemorate the disappearances, including of my father, caused by state violence in the 1960s during the insurgency movement. These rituals transform isolated mourning into a public activity as gestures of care across time and make claims to non-official history.  ~Created with support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Alcaldía de Morán in Lara, and Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Cultura de Venezuela. Special thanks to Euro García for his support and participation in creating this work. 
White Thread  I was given a bit of white oil paint in a small container by an old comrade of my father, Gromanski Lameda. He gave me the paint to write my father's name, Iván Daza, on the cross the campesinos placed by the ambush site where he was disappeared in January 1966. I came by the bridge that now spans over the river they waded across that night before encountering the military ambush. I decided right then, to use the paint instead to trace my father's name over the bridge. 
River Burial This action took place in the icy, crystalline mountain waters near the town of Guaríco, Estado Lara. This area belongs to the beginning formation of the Andes Mountain Range. The Lara State in Venezuela was one of the most vital areas of the country's 1960s insurgency movement. The images below are from the day I encountered the bridge connecting the house where my father was last seen before the ambush attack.
Photos: Livia Daza-Paris
For more information see:  At the edge of the (far-) End: an event revealed through rituals. ELSE Journal for International Art and Creative Media Issue 01. Published by Transart. Editor Teobaldo Lagos Preller. Peer-reviewed article. 2016 https://en.calameo.com/read/003167138eee8c6d8ee56   ReviewsAlbeley Rodriguez: La creación: un dolor trocado en vida vibrante Constanza Rogatis: https://www.artnexus.com/Notice_View.aspx?DocumentID=29887A Space Gallery: http://www.revolutionaryforms.org/uploads/2/8/0/2/28025631/grieving_empire.pdf