Without a Song
Laura Sofía Pérez

The plantain, once an offering from a seductive plant, is displaced to Buenos Aires and separated from its bunch or racimo, a recurring image in Puerto Rican painting history and a symbol Afro-Caribbean culture. In an attempt at resistance, the artist forcibly and unsuccessfully ties the fruits together and replicates this offering by embodying the invisible and generally displaced individual. This ritual proposes ways of decoding, reforming, and defining a lost identity. It also invites participants to reap a fruit not commonly harvested in this city.

This action, wich lies somewhere between offering and resistance is accompanied by music by Hernán Sánchez on trumpet and percussion, Fernando Kiener in

keyboards and percussion, and Luciano Peralta on bass. The musicians arrange and perform the songs Watermelon Man and Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock on slower tempos, sporadically introducing phrases as well as other musical and sound elements, thus creating a meditative and introspective atmosphere that aludes to the collective unconscious.

Without a Song emphasizes African tradition of music, dance and rituals, which is characterized by being community-based, inclusive, and participatory. This exhibition also includes a panoramic projection that is part of an investigation on the African diaspora in the Río de la Plata, as well as a series of masked individual made from found images that are hybridized with album covers.