Clemencia Echeverri: Sin Cielo / Skyless

Falling within Clemencia Echeverri’s ongoing exploration of the social dynamics, cultural practice, and history of Colombia, Sin Cielo / Skyless is a multi-channel video wall that depicts the aftereffects of mining on the Cauca River within the town of Marmato, Caldas in the country’s northwest. Marmato has been the site of gold extraction for close to four centuries – operations that are now overseen by a Canadian multinational conglomerate. As a result of this continuous activity, the river has been transformed into a repository for chemical effluence such as mercury and cyanide. Through the deployment of scale, repetition, and sound, Sin Cielo adroitly conveys the extent of the ecological devastation that has befallen this region. Drawing a link between consumer desire and environmental degradation, Echeverri highlights the entanglements of economics, politics, and geography.

Q & A: Clemencia Echeverri

Clemencia Echeverri’s video-based practice examines violence in her native Colombia. Her Q&A provides some insight into the artist and her work: here, she reflects on her relationship to form, the conceptual issues that shape her work, the inspiration behind Sin Cielo, and a current project that she is working on for Foundacion Espacio V in Mexico.

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Image detail: Clemencia Echeverri , Sin Cielo / Skyless, 2017, video wall, 11:20 mins. Courtesy the artist and Sicardi Gallery