Mexico International Photography Festival, FOTOSEPTIEMBRE & IPA Photography Awards Official Selection 2022.
Sara Palacios, virtual gallery
Samay: spirit / Mayu: river / UIO: abbreviation of Quito, is a photographic project that visually recovers the disappeared rivers and streams that provided water and delimited the capital of Ecuador.
The ancient streams used to set the territorial limits of the historic city of Quito before the arrival of the Incas to this territory. The moor of the Pichincha volcano, the former water source of Quito, was its first limit along with the Sanguña, Ullaguangayacu and Itchimbía streams. These three streams were intervened to consolidate the urban development of the city to the point of invisibility and oblivion, not only of the rivers that flowed through them, but also of the population for whom the river is still important.
The water molecule emerges to the surface through the Quitu-Cara waterfall in the Pichincha highlands. From its primary source, it begins a journey that crosses the slopes, the space of the city, its streets and also the bodies of its inhabitants. The water unites times and planes of existence: Hanan, Kay and Uku Pacha and returns to the Father volcano, the great Taita Rucu to cleanse history and thus move towards a future integrated with the great mother Earth.
Quito is a city of water and its ancestral configuration was determined according to its rivers and springs.
This work gives a voice to nature, while generating dialogue and raising awareness about how our lifestyle directly influences the conservation of natural resources for present and future well-being.
The photographs in the series were printed on cotton photographic paper, hand-painted with watercolor to illuminate the water and digitized for display.
SIDE ACTIVITIES
- Itinerant physical exhibition from September 2022 to February 2023, held in the zonal offices of the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito.
- Photographic readings with the author to link the community with the images.
- We will weave the river of the city with recycled materials together with the neighbors in each zonal direction.
GET INVOLVED IN THE RESCUE OF QUITO’S RIVERS
Email. hola@saokma
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