|
|
Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Ich bin nicht (I Am Not), 2002. © Sandra Vásquez de la Horra; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
|
|
|
Chilean artist Sandra Vásquez de la Horra combines transnational and Indigenous perspectives in her multidisciplinary artistic approach. Her oeuvre comprises drawing and painting as well as video and performance, and reflects complex events, stories, rituals, and beliefs rooted in her upbringing in Chile as well as in her many years of living in Germany. Soy Energía, the artist’s first institutional survey exhibition in Europe—at Haus der Kunst, Munich—is dedicated to her experimental practice and focuses on her spatial, energetic, and global thinking. The catalogue is enriched by contributions from Jana Baumann, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Cecilia Vicuña, John Yau, Felipe Baeza, Raphael Fonseca, and Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz.
The German edition of the catalogue is available here.
Below you can read an excerpt from the conversations between Jana Baumann and Sandra Vásquez de la Horra featured in the publication.
|
|
|
|
Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Soy el Horizonte Infinito (I am the infinite horizon), 2025. © Sandra Vásquez de la Horra; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Commissioned by Haus der Kunst
|
|
What Does Being a Woman Mean?
Jana Baumann in Conversation with Sandra Vásquez de la Horra
JANA BAUMANN
We’ve been in close contact for several years now, preparing your first European retrospective at Haus der Kunst in Munich. It’s a great gesture of trust and dedication to the project that you’ve developed three new, central groups of works for the exhibition Soy Energía, including two groups of four- and eight-part works, which range in size from large to monumental. What themes have you been exploring in these pieces? In Aymara (2025), for example, a woman is depicted in a physically impossible pose—twisted within her own body—looking at her hand as if in a mirror. At the same time, her long braid resembles a spine, and the colours that shape her body give her an aura of energy. What message are you conveying with this work?
SANDRA VÁSQUEZ DE LA HORRA
There are many symbols in this picture. One of these is the stones surrounding the figure. They resemble the staircase sculptures of the Incas, which also represent a connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. Another symbol is the mirror that the woman is looking into. Our family cook, Uverlinda Aguilera, told me about the myth that if you quickly look over your shoulder, you get a glimpse of supernatural worlds. The Spanish adapted this to Catholicism, saying that you see the devil instead.
Braids also hold great symbolic significance in many countries. In some Indigenous Latin American cultures, hair is considered to have spiritual significance. For example, there is a custom of cutting off one’s own braid and placing it in the grave of someone who has died. In many cultures, braids are associated with agriculture, such as when braids are woven using herbs, garlic, or straw. This tradition can also be found in Europe. During the time of slavery, people hid seeds in their braids. Braids were therefore not only decorative but also served a practical function. They offered protection, a place where you could hide something when you were vulnerable. In this sense, braids also became a symbol of resistance. Among the Yoruba people, cutting off one’s braids or hair is part of the initiation process. And in many other rituals, hair is sacrificed to the gods. It has a protective function, for example on altars.
|
|
|
Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Niño de polen (Pollen Child), 2025. © Sandra Vásquez de la Horra; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Commissioned by Haus der Kunst
|
|
My work is influenced by many different cultures. I became interested in Buddhism at a very early age. That’s why I was so familiar with the Tai Chi figures or the symbols from the I Ching (also known as the Yijing or the Book of Changes), a Confucian volume on divination. Lola Hoffmann, a student of Carl Gustav Jung, had translated it into Spanish, and I studied it when I was about twenty years old. It offered me a different perspective, far removed from the Catholic worldview prevalent in Chile. This is why I often talk about cultural bridges. I build these bridges to connect things, to make boundaries permeable, and to learn from different cultures.
JANA
Would you say that many of your life experiences come together in this group of works and that you bundle them into visual ideas? Do these experiences also form the main theme that connects all the figures? Then again, the series explores your ideas about energy and spirituality. Does this description fit?
SANDRA
My drawing entitled Mapa de una anatomía (Map of Anatomy, 2025) depicts the human body as a kind of map, crisscrossed by lines that resemble veins or rivers. In Nigeria, rivers are named after deities, and I view these lines in a similar way: as a connection between the body and the cosmos. To me, they represent energies that embody these deities, each with their own life and story.
I have studied various cosmologies, such as that of the Navajo, an Indigenous group from North America. I was particularly fascinated by their sand paintings, which are arranged according to the cardinal directions, colours, and minerals. Everything follows a certain logic. This impressed me deeply. It demonstrates the interconnectedness of landscape, body, and spirituality.
CONTINUE READING
|
|
|
Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Duerme Duerme, 2024. © Sandra Vásquez de la Horra; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Commissioned by Haus der Kunst
|
|
|
Mousse Magazine and Publishing
via Decembrio 28, 20137 Milan
Contact us here
|
|
|
|
