Latin American women in London: Mocked Representation & Tokenism by Guerrill@ Girls. An Urgent Plea for Genuine Respect and Justice

Disclaimer: Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to read it. This is a personal view that doesn't intend to represent anyone else apart from myself. I extend my sympathy to all the female artists who have participated in the same event, with all their good intentions and passion, but I recognize there must be a poor understanding of the nature of the event or even the way all these projects are managed by the leaders of the collectives in question. Apologies if this letter unintentionally hurt anyone else's feelings. I know the community is full of talents, while others instrumentalize them for their own benefit.

Dear Modern Tate Modern Lates Curator and Sponsors,

I am responding to the music program curated by the Guerrill@ Girls and yourself, Kate Hutchinson, in the Turbine Hall, featuring "Las Witch@s Collective" in London, January 2024.

As a Latin American artist and activist,  this fake and harmful representation of our culture and feminist struggles needs to be called to the public's attention. 

Let's be straight to the point – "Las Witch@s Collective" cannot be taken seriously as a feminist group, only because they are only women-led. They may care very little about the resistance of Afro-Colombian, native Indigenous, or oppressed (female) individuals from the Global South. Their representative responds to its own fame and agenda; a privileged and elitist wannabe who uses its connections to get gigs and attention (and exploit the interest of unrepresented women for its benefit). 

I can support my point from personal experience working with the same Latin American female artists they claim to represent, and I have to say that NOTHING justifies the social bullying and cancellation that systematically excludes other Latin American female artists and activists who don't fit their narrow and shallow views. This statement is backed by the police report (crime reference number 4625883/21) filed against female individuals who collaborate with Witch@s Collective, including Fl@w@ Festival and F@l@ and Bullerengue Circl4. As a Latin American-born designer and advocate for FEMALE ANTI-COLONIALIST cultural sustainability, I can't feel represented by these sorts of collectives.  

Some of the above "socio-cultural projects" are currently backed up by Arts Council England and favouritism entangled with the (current) Cultural Attaché of the Colombian Embassy in the UK appointed by the Duque government, (the art of #diplomacy), and other individuals with influence in the Latin American music scene, who are supposed to support and promote the creative and cultural sector. But they are doing the opposite—appropriating, extracting, and distorting the resistance of Afro-Colombian, native Indigenous, and oppressed individuals by instrumentalizing our cultural heritage and turning it into a cheap show for the masses, benefiting their own financial gain and personal agendas.

They are insulting and hurting our community and our art. They are all guilty of cultural extractivism and tokenism, stealing political, social, and migrant causes to use them as marketing stunts masked with political and activist intentions.

It's jaw-dropping to witness the disjointed discourse costume design, aesthetic choices,  music originality, message proposal, briefly, the  overall artistic delivery, raises questions about what is their commitment and understanding of the culture(s) and groups they claim to "represent." It seems like a mere imitation, lacking depth and genuine respect for the essence of our diverse heritage and feminist values.

The Tate Modern and the Arts Council are wasting public money and resources on programs and artists that degrade, and distort the culture and experiences of people from the Global South. They are betraying their own mission and values if they really care about a just representation of our long-lasting invisible community in the UK.

I cannot stay silent. I'm going to speak up about my experience and exercise my right to express how I feel as a Latin American woman in the UK. I'm writing and shouting out loud how I feel – as the same program was inviting the public to do so during the night. I'm exposing their lies, hypocrisy, and systematic cancel culture agenda. I'm challenging a collective abuse of power, privilege, and network of influences by only using my own voice.

I know many others who may have been silenced and cancelled, who share my own experience. I know many others who are proud to share our culture and our activism without the need to make a profit or a living from imitations of it.

✊ #NoMoreCulturalExtractivism #DecoloniseTheArtWorld #LatinAmericanArtistsMatter #BoycottTateModernLates #GuerrillaGirlsAreFake #WitchasCollectiveAreWack

References:

Black Manifesto by Rasheed Araeen¹, a Pakistani-born artist and writer living in Britain since 1964. He also calls for the Third World artist to create a new art that challenges and transforms the existing art of the West.

"The Third World " artist must create a new art which is not only relevant to his own situation and needs but also challenges and transforms the existing art of the West."

(1) Cultural Appropriation: Another Form of Extractivism of Indigenous .. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/cultural-appropriation-another-form-extractivism-indigenous-communities.

(2) Extractivism - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extractivism.

(3) Extractivism and Extractivismo | Global South Studies,  https://globalsouthstudies.as.virginia.edu/key-concepts/extractivism-and-extractivismo.

(4) en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extractivism.