Afro-Colombian Week

Afro-descendent in Colombian art

Historically, when did Afro-descendants begin to be represented in Colombian Art?

There are at least 3 moments in the history of Colombian art in which the presence of Afro-descendants can be found:

The first moment is in the XIX century, with drawings made by foreigners and Colombians, who were studying the different aspects of Colombian culture, with a scientific, geographic and ethnographic perspective. Therefore, through drawings from the Comisión Corográfica, such as those of the Englishman Henry Price or the Colombian Torres Méndez, appears the first register of who was living in this country and how.

The second moment appeared in the XX century, when artists began to see the presence of Afro-descendants in certain examples of international art. With the development of modernism in Paris, through artists such as Gauguin and Picasso, they worked with referents belonging to non-European cultures; this sparked an interest among Latin American artists. 

Artists such as Wiedemann and Richter arrived in Colombia; these two German artists directed their focus on peripheral areas of the country. Their interest was concentrated on the exotic and the theme of “negritudes”, as it was known, related to a sensitive subject. It was an exotic whilst also refreshing outlook for Colombian art, as if you look at the first decades of the XX century, the most important artists were focusing on the landscape of Antioquia or the savannah of Bogotá; none had an interest in other aspects of the Colombia Culture. 

Artists from Antioquia such as Gómez Jaramillo and in a way, Pedro Nel Gómez, who didn’t focus primarily on Afro issues but rather mining, started to register the presence of the Afro population. Gómez Jaramillo, for example, was put in charge of a mural for the National Capitol under the direction of the then president López Pumarejo, where he addressed the subject of Africanism and slavery. This piece of work is the first historical record of the reality of Colombian Afro-descendants; it caused much controversy in the conservative sector of the arts.

Ignacio Gomez Jaramillo

Gómez Jaramillo also completed periodic sojourns in the Atlantic coast during the 40’s and 50’s, capturing scenes of mundane life in these areas. A young Fernando Botero did a similar trip to the Colombian Caribbean coast, painting interesting works in which the central subject was the Afro man and woman and their environment.

Fernando Botero

Similarly, Débora Arango, during the 70’s, produced several paintings touching on the racial theme with a caustic and ironic perspective. 

Debora Arango

Later on in the 70’s, Pedro Alcántara, produced a series of drawings and etchings with a strong interest in defining the body using iconic African characters. 

Pedro Alcántara

During the 80’s, Ana Mercedes Hoyos began a series of palenqueras and entered into the idiosyncrasy of the Afro woman, a subject matter present to this day in her work.

Ana Mercedes Hoyos

In that moment, towards the middle of the XX century, there was no self-reflexion made by Afro-descendants, what there was, was representations by artists who did not belong to the Afro culture. Therefore, it can be said that at the beginning of the new century a third moment appears, in which Afro-descendants, began to epitomize themselves.

When did it occur when Afro-descendants changed from being simply represented in art to representing themselves?

Heriberto Cogollo was the artist of Afro-descendants who began to look at himself. He was from Cartagena, and during the 70’s began a piece of work, which investigated the aspects of the body and spirituality of the African inheritance.

Heriberto Cogollo

In the last decade, a generation of young artists started to work with full awareness of their own representation, Artists appeared such as Liliana Angulo, Fabio Melecio, Javier Mujica, amongst others.

Currently, there are also artist who are not of Afro-descendants, but have proposals on the subject with their own attitudes of contemporaneity, such as Juan Manuel Echavarría, Libia Posada, Ana Patricia Palacios and Trinidad Caballero.