Paula Chaves - House of Desaparecidxs

“There is a zone of nonbeing, an extraordinarily sterile and arid region, an utterly naked declivity where an authentic upheaval can be born” (Frantz Fanon)

A hooded character named La ChicaScratch embarks on a transgenerational trip to uncover the hidden story of her mother as a young militant activist in 1970’s Colombia. Through it she reflects on her own journey: the dark reasons that led her to escape Colombia into political exile in the Netherlands ten years ago.

Paula Chaves Bonilla’s new performance House of Desaparecidxs is her testimony among thousands of other Colombians who fled their country in order to save their lives. People who had no other choice then to leave their homeland after being threatened for their political affiliations, for being sexual dissidents, community leaders or relatives seeking justice for criminalized, disappeared or murdered loved ones. House of Desaparecidxs opens its doors to these untold stories; we enter an utopian space in which we travel through non-linearly memories of the present, future and past – narrowing the border between the realm of life and death.

Resistance in exile
House of Desaparecidxs traces a lineage and space of belonging through communities, people and stories that resist the voracious necropolitics of capitalism and dignify life through solidarity and collective actions. The performance emerges as a technology of resistance in exile, and devises a way to reestablish dialogue with origins and histories. It refuses the  destruction of memory (memoricide) so common in conditions of exile.

Credits

Concept & performance
Paula Chaves Bonilla
Research
Natalia Chaves Lopez
Dramaturgy
Ogutu Muraya
Scenography
Nadia Bekkers
Scenographic Painting
Rasureitor
Somatic Movement research guidance
Lux Saüer
Outside eye
Natalia Sorzano
Light design
Mathisse Coornaert
Technical support
Erik Gramberg
Political Cartel compilation and rap selector
Rasureitor
Production Assistance
Lina Lanas
Video Animation
Rowena Buur
Produced by
Veem House for Performance
Co-produced by
ICI-CCN de Montpellier – Occitanie as part of Life Long Burning project supported by the European commission