the seriesCiudad de Armero, 2021
Acrylic, pyrography and photograph printed in bone on birch Wood
100 x 81 cm
The city of Armero, in the State of Tolima in Colombia, was hit by the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985, a tragedy that left more than 20,000 deaths. A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the ruins of the city and its landscape of houses buried in the mud, which has given way to a nature full of spirits and which ignores the sad history of the place. This visit and its surroundings had a strong impact on me, and gave rise to a photographic series that I have decided to elaborate with other arguments. In this new series of paintings and photographs, I try to delve into that symbiosis between Architecture and Nature that undoubtedly define the city of Armero. The traces of its inhabitants and the vestiges of lives suddenly truncated, as well as the heartfelt messages of family and friends are an intrinsic part of this new set of works, which pays tribute to the dead of this tragedy. Parts of the human anatomy coexist with fragments of the architecture and flora of the place, and give way to these vignettes that illustrate and document my approach to this site, and to a framework that inhabits the collective memory.
