Piedras Lunares is the third in a series of decolonial practices after Lenguas Solares and Sentimental Disobedience. Manuela Illera developed the installation Piedras Lunares (Moonstones) for DG Kunstraum.

 

This work explores the impact of colonialism on cultural and power structures. The evangelisation of Latin America, initiated by Christopher Columbus's voyages and reinforced by papal decrees, led to the forced conversion and subjugation of indigenous populations. Bartolomé de Las Casas documented these brutal practices in 1542, highlighting the violence and destruction of native cultures.

 

Today, indigenous scholar Nicolle Torres Sierra, a researcher and master in linguistics, is working on the recovery of Muysc Cubun, the native language of what is now known as Bogotá. Nicolle is a member of the Muysca community of Suba, a territory that has been an indigenous reservation for more than 100 years. The recovery of the customs and beliefs of her ancestors has been influenced by the processes of evangelisation that her community has undergone. A coexistence that is impossible to undermine has resulted in a mixture of beliefs and syncretisms that have modified the indigenous culture forever. Illera collaborates with these experts to infuse her practice with diverse perspectives, enabling viewers to explore repressed cultural histories through sound and visual language. In Piedras Lunares, the central design elements—a bat head and a "tunjo" (votive figure)—resemble church windows. These symbols, also present in the moving images, represent codes that seek to communicate alternative sensibilities to Western logics. Based on historical documents from colonial times, the sound installation features audio files containing Christian prayers translated from Old Castilian into Muysc Cubun. These files were also recorded by Nicole in Bogotá.

 

In this series of projects, Manuela Illera has decided to work collaboratively, including more artists, designers, and members of the communities she refers to. The financing, content, and political or religious positions of the exhibition spaces are conceptual elements that contribute to why she has called them site-specific decolonial practices.