The world is a dark place. Although I’ve been fortunate enough to have a living situation where I haven’t really needed to deal with the extent of darkness in this world, I’ve seen enough of it to know that it’s something that most people can’t dodge sometimes. Darkness is poverty and war, it’s oppression and inequality. For some people, this “darkness” is a constant part of life but for many of us, we just haven’t been exposed to that reality. It’s something that people have dedicated their lives to solving. Unfortunately, this darkness goes right over lots of people heads, whether they choose to look away or simply haven’t been exposed to it. I think it’s critical that people know what’s going on in the world in order for these problems to be more widely recognized as well as having a higher chance of being solved. So how do you do it? Well, I’ll get into that in a second…

I’ve been taking an online Spanish 10 course throughout this year and although it focuses a LOT more on doing things like being able to have a simple conversation in Spanish or to know the difference between “casa” and “caza”, we did have the opportunity to work on a Creative Works Project. So what is this project? Essentially, we got to discover any creative work in our language (in my case Spanish) which consist of things like poems, books, paintings, songs, etc. Basically anything that could be enjoyed in a creative sense. The reason we are doing this is to help us get a better understanding for the culture we’re learning about as well as finding similarities/differences between the world that I’m used to compared to the world (in this case) Latin Americans are used to. We also need to include new vocabulary that we learned to go along with this project. Like I mentioned, the class we’re doing isn’t dark in the slightest but this project has given me the opportunity to delve a little deeper into some of the darker aspect of Latin American culture. So without further adieu, I’ll just get right into it.

Las Manos De Protesta (The Hands of Protest)

So yeah, this is a pretty strong example of the way darkness has been portrayed within Latin American culture. “Las Manos de Protesta” was painted in 1968 by an Ecuadorian painter by the name of Oswaldo Guayasamín. As a kid, Guayasamín was a talented artist. He grew up as the son of an indigenous father and a mestizo mother and was the oldest of ten siblings. He grew up in a rather poor area of Ecuador and because of that, he was exposed to many of the world’s challenges: He had an abusive father, he lived in poverty, he experienced racism, he watched his friends die around him, and he lived in a war-torn city. He found a way to portray this reality through his art which in turn, sparked the beginning of his views on politics and the struggle that many people faced in his world. 

“Las Manos de Protesta” was part of the collection “Hands” in his gallery, La Edad de la Ira. The theme of “Hands” was to show expressive potential of faces, hands and bodies to convey a range of human emotions. The La Edad de la Ira was specifically meant to portray human suffering which was caused by war, poverty, genocide, and discrimination. In “Las Manos de Protesta,” Guayasamín shows the raw emotions of someone who has experienced immense suffering in his life through both contrasting colours and the exaggerated gesturing towards the viewer. Through looking at the suffering that this skeletal figure shows, we feel, if only for a second, that we can’t keep going about our lives in ignorance and that we have to acknowledge the world for what it is.

Guayasamín didn’t just draw upon this idea simply by knowing that the world is a harsh place, he also had his own views and experiences which ended up deciding how this painting—as well as all his other work— would look. From around 1912-1999, Ecuador was in a sense of instability due to its economical and political problems. There was a constant feeling of violence in the air and protests/political movements were common. As I mentioned earlier, Guayasamín had been exposed to the horrors of these times and was no stranger to his reality even when he was a little kid. In the painting, we see that this person’s mouth is stretched in agony, screaming at the world he was put in. His hands are large and his arms are stretched, begging for the chaos to stop as there’s no other way he feels he can be heard. 

Guayasamín was an outspoken human rights activist and wasn’t afraid to show the world what people had to face in places such as Ecuador. Although I’m sure we’ve all seen this kind of suffering whether it be on TV or in real life, but we really never get to know how they feel and to what extent their hurting goes. This is why Guayasamin was so impactful as he really managed to display the sense of pain, fear, hope, and love that people had as he too experienced all these things in his own ways. Today, I just don’t see that kind of art showing up in places like North America. There are so many censors and societal boundaries that can’t be pushed anymore and I believe that is really what separates the world I’m used to compared to the world Guayasamin was born into; He and the people in Ecuador wanted to show to the world just how much help and support they needed by showing them what the world was really like while places like North America strategically decide to show or not show this pain and even go to lengths in order to keep many of us in blissful ignorance. 

Oswaldo Guayasamín was an artist, a human rights activist, and someone who knew what the world really looked like. More importantly though, he was a person. He was a person that understood these feelings and knew how to get others to understand as well. He has done so much to help Ecuador and even won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work and contributions. I think it’s good to acknowledge the darkness in the world as it can even cause for the solution of some problems. In the end, there can’t be a sunrise without darkness. 

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VOCABULARY:

Here are some new words that I learned in Spanish which I thought were very relevant to what I talked about…

Sufrimiento—Suffering: I think just based on what I was talking about, Guayasamín really managed to put emotions onto canvases and one of the main emotions he always seemed to show was suffering.

Dictadura—Dictator: Guayasamín was a socialist. He believed in equality and during his time living in Ecuador, he and everyone else lived under the rule of a careless dictator. This is one of the factors that caused him to create the artwork that he did.

Injustica—Injustice: Yet another common theme in his works, Guayasamín shows the injustices of the world through many of his works and finds ways to work it into his art.

Protesta—Protest: One of the most important factors to developing Guayasamín’s perspective on the world was when his best friend died during one of many protests against Ecuador and the wars going on. As he was only a little kid, this deeply affected him and impacted how he would come to be growing up.

Donar—Donate: Being a human rights advocate, Guayasamín was also very charitable and opened art galleries which would be free or anyone going by as he wanted everyone to see the world for what it is and why Ecuador needed so much help.

Escultura—Sculpture: Not only was Guayasamín a painter but he was also able in other forms of art.For example, he would commonly sculpt to show the beauty of the human face. This is a lighter side of his art.

Realidad—Reality: Yes, reality was very important for Guayasamín’s work. He was a realist and he wanted people to understand the kind of world that they weren’t seeing. He used his reality as well as the reality of everyone else around him to drive his work and to direct the style of the art he did.

Retrato—Portrait: Simply put, Guayasamín showed his mind through his art and I think that this is simply another way to describe how he portrayed emotions and human nature. He painted a portrait of what these feelings and emotions looked like.

Fructifero—Fruitful: Guayasamín was very successful in making the world aware of Ecuadorian people’s struggles and the unfairness that there is around the world. On top of his donations, many people were encouraged to do the same in order to better the lives that have been so wronged. 

Pictorica—Pictorial: Everything Guayasamín did was pictorial. He showed emotions in a pictorial way, he displayed different events and political standards in a pictorial way, and he simply communicated his thoughts and worldview in a pictorial way.