LA BALADA DE LAS SIRENAS SECAS

Commissioned and produced by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary for How to Tread Lightly

Combining experimental research on ethnobotany, curative practices, and wellbeing, Patricia Domínguez’s art focuses on the relationships between living species in an increasingly corporate cosmos. Her practice is directly connected to her activism, and she understands art as a field of possibility that can disrupt existing political narratives, challenge interpretation, and propose new ways of approaching problems. First published online on st_age in the form of the interactive publication Gaiaguardianxs (2020), the work emerges from a three years personal journey and research through conflicts connected to the issue of water in Latin America. The video La balada de las sirenas secas speaks about the privatization of water in Chile, and how fresh water has been diverted to irrigate large-scale corporate avocado plantations in the Petorca region. Since the 1990s, Chile has been plagued by the appropriation of water by the agriculture industry in collusion with politicians. Many people do not have clean water for drinking and basic sanitation, a situation made even more troublesome with the spread of Covid-19. The work is result of a collaboration with Las viudas del agua (The Widows of the Water) a group of women who are devoting their lives to the fight for access to water resources within their communities.