In this exposition, I expand the notions and practices of collective body-action intervention (dance, performance, happenings, etc.) as a method to strengthen embodied knowledge, an instigation to engage in restorative encounters, and an invitation to intervene and disrupt political biases of (public) spaces. These methodologies propose alternatives for knowledge exchange/production beyond hegemonic, Eurocentric education. In parallel, I reflect on my own practice and the anti-patriarchal and decolonial feminist political basis of the collectives of which I am part. We work with strategies and methodologies inspired by feminisms from the Global South, such as taking care of others as a practice that puts aside the patriarchal capitalist model of life that mainly separates, individualizes, prioritizes, and promotes competition and exploitation. We promote exchange, cooperation, and interdependence. I reflect on how these encounters summon the festive memory of our territories and the resilience of our* wounds. Emotions of the bodies and the resistances will trigger our rituals in Abya Yala**, the flows and drifts will make this poetic-affective encounter, as will the skin itself.
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*We: Here I refer to collectivity in a broad sense in each case: We as the collectives I am part of, we as women (cis, trans, nonbinary), we as immigrants, we as bipoc, etc
**Abya Yala: Self-determined name for the territories in the global south named "America" as a result of the colonizing process.
Poner el cuerpo – Making spaces public
Rossana Mercado-Rojas (Peru, 1982) artist and cultural worker based in Stockholm. My practice explores decolonial feminist practices, public spaces and collective work; racialized womanhood and immigration. I do this through multidisciplinary interventions, mainly through ephemeral audio-visual installations, text, performance and live painting. My texts have been published in the anthology “Public Memory Public art”(2022), commissioned by Statens Konstråd, in Kultwatch and Feministisk Perspektive. I was also part of the writing residency program by Konsthall C (2021). I am one of the founders of La Dekoloniala! (Sweden) an educational, artistic, and cultural organization whose main goal is to bring forward decolonial knowledge from the global South. I am one of the initiators of the street art feminist collective Hysterix (Peru) focusing on multidisciplinary interventions in the public realm. I hold a BA in painting, a master degree in critical writing and curatorial practice from Konstfack College, and postmaster in sound art and collaborative practices from Royal Academy of Arts. I´m also independent curator, community organizer, and mother of a 13-year-old child.
Visit the exposition in the database Research Catalogue.
