The dam and the shaman

In the exhibition La presa y el chamán (The Dam and the Shaman), Oswaldo Ruiz presents photographs, videos, and a light installation as the result of his residency at the Bodegón Cultural Los Vilos in April 2023. During his stay, he explored Los Vilos and its surrounding villages. Through his images, he delves into cosmic time, the ancient and contemporary presence of inscriptions on the land, and the social landscape shaped by industrialization, contrasting it with vernacular life.

Los Vilos, Chile, 2023
 
 

The Dam and the Shaman
By Oswaldo Ruiz

The shaman gazes at the star in Quebrada de Quereo
and the triangular stone of Villa Ilusión.
The giant rocks in Canela Alta
line the high summit, which stares with a foolish face
at the old glyph of the horned mask in Mincha
and the scratches on the stone of Huentelauquén.
The whale of Aldonis de Lo Muñoz’s museum
threatens to devour
the house with inscriptions in Tahuinco.
 
On the wall, death looms in Angostura,
and the black vultures of La Cachina stalk
the bones of goats on the dry ground of Illapel—
the endless drought,
the lake atop the mountain turned into a dam,
flooding the glyphs with heavy metals.
 
But the pet cemetery at Piedra de la Virgen
foretells the founding of a new town:
the altéptl, the water hill,
where the shaman of Tilama opens his arms
so that Lohse students can scratch the walls with light,
and the ballet girls conjure the unexpected rain
with their dance in raincoats.
 
In the distance, the song of Edith Piaf:
And now today
These same words of love
It’s me who says them again
It’s me who says them again
With just as much love
To another than him
I say words
For the sake of words
There are so many
That there are too many
 
In the dark, illuminated stadium,
Parmatma, the teacher, observes and marks the presence
of El hijo del guardabosque (The Forest Ranger’s Son):
To the water, to the clean water, I sing and say:
from my dark abyss, I sense you,
watercup, watersky, and waterlily.