From October the 20th to the 31st of 2021
Public opening: Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Guided Tours by appointment through the Instagram of La Bienal en Resistencia
Wednesday, October 20 at 12 p.m., performance in the Plaza de la Constitución in the City of Guatemala. Open to the public.
The Living Monument is a monument to the body of Marilyn Boror Bor, an artist, woman, indigenous Mayan-Kaqchiquel. Dressed in the Mayan clothing of San Juan Sacatepéquez in the Plaza de la Constitución of Guatemala City, the Monument sits on a cement base that melts with liquid cement like a pedestal. The cement covers her ankles and dries up during the day, turning her into a living monument. Like any monument, the inscription on its plaque refers to the reason for the commemoration: “In memory of the defenders of the earth, In memory of the spiritual guides, in gratitude to the political prisoners, in gratitude to the communities’ leaders. Freedom for the rivers, the hills, the mountains, the flowers, the lakes!"
The monument is thus a tribute to the resistance of the native peoples and a reminder, in the framework of the bicentennial of Guatemala, that instead of celebrating, the peoples are ready to tell their counter-stories of resistance. The action is also a denunciation of a particular situation in San Juan Sacatepéquez, the artist's place of origin. San Juan Sacatepéquez is also known as the Land of Flowers, however, recently the actions of Cementera San Gabriel, owned by Cementos Progreso and the Guatemalan oligarchy, have depleted the community of water, being the lack of that vital fluid, caused by extractivism, one of the biggest problems that affects the life and landscape in that place. For this reason, the use of cement in the action has a political and symbolic meaning, commenting on the relationship that this material has with the history of the town of San Juan. The landscape sinks into cement, the original land is covered with false ideas of progress and "civilization", traces, memory and life are buried in dust. The cement covers her feet and imprisons them, while the artist resists its pressure, remembering and homaging the defenders of the earth.
We are the living monument that is fighting for the territory, we walk on the fresh cement that the oligarchy and power put on our feet, we leave the footprints and we do not let it harden in its wake.
Living Monument will be presented at the Casa de la Memoria de Guatemala within the framework of the 2021 La Bienal en Resistencia with the support of the La Revuelta collective.
