Liliana Angulo Cortés, a Colombian artist of African descent, questions historical records, images, and stereotypes of Afro-identity that have been constructed from colonial times to the present day. She has spent time in various communities highlighting the challenges faced by the African diaspora, and interrogated ways in which memory and power are interrelated. In the same way that waves off the coast of Colombia travel across the Pacific Ocean and reach the coast of Japan, her practice aims to transmit awareness, empathy, and solidarity with regard to the struggles and resistance to social oppression of Black communities in the Americas.

Her work for Aichi Triennale 2022 consists of two parts. The first, Pacific Time. The People wonʼt back down Damn it!, focuses the historical struggles faced by Colombians of African descent and indigenous peoples in the Pacific region of Colombia, and struggles against inequality throughout the Pacific region of the Americas. It looks at the role of global culture through the movement of goods and merchandise, but also through the People and the Black Power Movement ideals in the Americas. It documents a civic strike in the port of Buenaventura, caused by the poverty, high child mortality, unemployment and lack of running water, and displays flags symbolizing a strike for their basic rights and for the marine environment.

The second is ¡Quieto Pelo! (Still Hair). Collective construction project on the tradition of hairstyle and care practices in Afro-descendant communities, which deals with the cultural tradition of hair braiding, brought by people forcibly transported from Africa to the Americas, as a form of communication and knowledge of resistance. This tradition was used in colonial times as codes and maps of escape from slavery, and it continues to empower against racism. Photographs, records and sculptural pieces show traditions of braiding and care practices.

In recent years Liliana Angulo Cortés has participated in exhibitions including the Kathmandu Triennial 2077 (2022; Nepal) and Talking to Action: Art, Pedagogy and Activism in the Americas (2017–2019; traveling to four locations in the US). She is also involved with the Colombian audiovisual art association Wi Da Monikongo and the Bogotá group Aguaturbia, among other activities involving artists of African descent, as well as the Buenaventura-based Archive and Memory Group of Commune 6.

Selected Works & Awards

2022

Kathmandu Triennial 2077, Kathmandu, Nepal

2017－2019

Talking to Action: Art, Pedagogy and Activism in the Americas, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, Los Angeles, USA

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio