Rituals: Art, memory and the rituals that hold communities together
A new exhibition at the Banco de la República in Bogotá brings together 19 recently acquired works exploring spirituality, ancestral knowledge, memory and the rituals of everyday life. In a world defined by acceleration, information overload and increasing disconnection, the ritual has taken on a renewed significance. It can be a ceremony, a prayer, a […]
An exhibition at Bogotá's Banco de la República delves into the significance of rituals in society. Featuring 19 works acquired recently by the bank between 2023 and 2026, the exhibition titled Rituales explores spirituality, memory, and the rituals that bind individuals and communities together. The pieces range from ceremonies and prayers to meals, journeys, and medicinal preparations, showcasing how rituals connect people to each other, places, and the natural world.
The works encompass healing practices, religious ceremonies, symbolic landscapes, funerary traditions, and ancestral knowledge, examining identity, memory, resistance, and the survival of cultural knowledge across generations. Notable pieces include Astrid Milena González's videos exploring Afro-Colombian spirituality through singing and medicinal plants, Gabriel Silva's mythological painting with silhouetted figures in a coloured landscape, and Luis Fernando Zapata's sculpture blending a sarcophagus and chrysalis, symbolizing introspection, mortality, and transformation.
Adriana Ciudad's work draws on funerary rituals along Colombia's Pacific coast, using rivers as metaphors for different worlds and memory. Gonzalo Fuenmayor's 19th-century-inspired drawings depict a jungle audience in the stalls, highlighting the tension between European architecture and tropical vegetation. Andrés Quintero's installation combines sculpture and video, tracing a journey inspired by Raquel Vivas, a La Floresta, Boyacá resident connected to the Nasa community, who collected meteorites in Boyacá.
Tahuanty Jacanamijoy's work bridges ancestral traditions and contemporary urban culture, such as in Tears in the club, merging sacred Amazonian forest elements with the profane atmosphere of electronic nightlife. Yuli Andrea Cadavid's Brebajes installation comprises engraved aluminium cooking pots depicting healing plants and worn surfaces, evoking domestic rituals and intimacy.
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