In Spanish there is a way to describe someone who has lost his or her way. It is said that the person ha perdido su norte or, in English, has lost their north. The phrase is used to literally talk about someone who does not know the route to choose in order to arrive somewhere or, figuratively, to refer to a person who seems befuddled in regard to life in general. This compass-based perspective gives obvious primacy to the north and suggests that any other orientation is, well, disorientated.
Perhaps responding to this magnetically-reductive point of view, the Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres García created a map of part of Latin America. It is a basic line drawing of the South American continent’s contours with markings indicating the equator and special attention given to the artist’s native country. Like many of the cartographers who originally charted these lands for European eyes, he included a sailing ship in the sea, some stars, a moon, and a fish. However, none of these details are what draw a viewer’s eye. The aspect that jumps out of the image is, of course, that at first glance the map appears upside down. Patagonia is towards the top and Colombia and Venezuela are at the bottom. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the writing is correct. It is not upside down. This means that the artist intended for the map to be seen in this way. For him south is up and north is down. Instead of approaching the world by always looking up to the north, Torres García seems to be saying that his perspective starts with the south. His magnetic orientation is South America and it is from there that he relates to the world. Being a Uruguayan, this is logical and perhaps the more surprising aspect is that what Torres García seems to communicate is that many people find the message quite original. Through subtlety his map points to the northern dominance of so much of the international cultural dialogue and this is an idea that needs dissemination.
The Puerto Rican band Calle 13 is certainly among the many artists who make the effort to elucidate the “south” in such a way that it can be heard beyond the Latin American cultural context. Interestingly the group’s members created a film named Sin mapa which documents a trip they took through Peru, Venezuela, and Columbia. Their experience presents Latin America as a place of extremes where wealth is the loud exception, but poverty and the tensions created by diversity are more the rule. The countries and the people, however, are not the film’s protagonist. Instead the narration focuses on the band and, in particular, the colorful leader René Pérez Joglar. For him the trip seems to be a confrontation with Latin America’s complex and contradictory reality. It could be argued as a kind of coming-of-age experience where Mr. Pérez Joglar matures and defines purpose for his music. He is critical of the larger world’s ignorance in regard to Latin America and, at one point in the film, feels disgust with tourists visiting Machu Picchu suggesting that some visitors from the U.S. have not earned their time in the sacred place. In part, he seems to argue that people must appreciate Latin America’s past to understand its present. This need to confront ignorance with knowledge puts Mr. Pérez Joglar and his music in the role of educator and, towards the film’s end, he states that his blood runs with the mix of European, indigenous, and African history and that the three voices combined can sing louder than each of them individually. This optimistic embracing of diversity is the artistic act of turning the tensions caused by the meeting of cultures into beauty. Not everyone will find Calle 13’s music beautiful, but the goal of orientating the larger world towards the “south” –even if it is for the briefest moment- is one that should be pursued more than all that glitters and that likely would have pleased Torres García.
Perhaps responding to this magnetically-reductive point of view, the Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres García created a map of part of Latin America. It is a basic line drawing of the South American continent’s contours with markings indicating the equator and special attention given to the artist’s native country. Like many of the cartographers who originally charted these lands for European eyes, he included a sailing ship in the sea, some stars, a moon, and a fish. However, none of these details are what draw a viewer’s eye. The aspect that jumps out of the image is, of course, that at first glance the map appears upside down. Patagonia is towards the top and Colombia and Venezuela are at the bottom. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the writing is correct. It is not upside down. This means that the artist intended for the map to be seen in this way. For him south is up and north is down. Instead of approaching the world by always looking up to the north, Torres García seems to be saying that his perspective starts with the south. His magnetic orientation is South America and it is from there that he relates to the world. Being a Uruguayan, this is logical and perhaps the more surprising aspect is that what Torres García seems to communicate is that many people find the message quite original. Through subtlety his map points to the northern dominance of so much of the international cultural dialogue and this is an idea that needs dissemination.
The Puerto Rican band Calle 13 is certainly among the many artists who make the effort to elucidate the “south” in such a way that it can be heard beyond the Latin American cultural context. Interestingly the group’s members created a film named Sin mapa which documents a trip they took through Peru, Venezuela, and Columbia. Their experience presents Latin America as a place of extremes where wealth is the loud exception, but poverty and the tensions created by diversity are more the rule. The countries and the people, however, are not the film’s protagonist. Instead the narration focuses on the band and, in particular, the colorful leader René Pérez Joglar. For him the trip seems to be a confrontation with Latin America’s complex and contradictory reality. It could be argued as a kind of coming-of-age experience where Mr. Pérez Joglar matures and defines purpose for his music. He is critical of the larger world’s ignorance in regard to Latin America and, at one point in the film, feels disgust with tourists visiting Machu Picchu suggesting that some visitors from the U.S. have not earned their time in the sacred place. In part, he seems to argue that people must appreciate Latin America’s past to understand its present. This need to confront ignorance with knowledge puts Mr. Pérez Joglar and his music in the role of educator and, towards the film’s end, he states that his blood runs with the mix of European, indigenous, and African history and that the three voices combined can sing louder than each of them individually. This optimistic embracing of diversity is the artistic act of turning the tensions caused by the meeting of cultures into beauty. Not everyone will find Calle 13’s music beautiful, but the goal of orientating the larger world towards the “south” –even if it is for the briefest moment- is one that should be pursued more than all that glitters and that likely would have pleased Torres García.
