Mining the Qhapaq Ñan with Micaela de Vivero: Decolonial cords

Visual communication today is often characterized as more complex and multi-dimensional than in the past, and it is often argued that we are separated from our past by a greater range of visual concepts, imaginings and technologies that have never before been dreamed of. But such a conceit does not withstand a critical interrogation; moreover, if it were unchallenged then it would lead to an underestimation of the enduring human capacity for nuance and comprehension, for both understanding and misunderstanding one another. The thoughtful exhibition of Micaela de Vivero’s art underscores the hazards of stipulating a conceptual and material gap between the cultural and visual landscape of then and now, and by extension the autonomy and richness of past cultures obscured or annihilated as a part of the colonial endeavour. These ideas are beautifully drawn out and elegantly captured in a large, deeply researched exhibition by Micaela de Vivero, an Andean artist, who makes sculpture using often non-traditional sculptural materials, such as hand-dyed sisal cord and wool, hand-made paper, pig intestines, and gold and silver leaf. Her work draws on decolonial theory and in this exhibition specifically the work of a remarkable letter written around 1600 by Guaman Poma, an Andean scholar, to reveal unprecedented and still unattainable complexities in (visual) communication.