The British Museum, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG Thursday 17th – Friday 18th February 2022
A unique company that works between cultures and art forms, and between nations and peoples; Border Crossings uses theatre and the arts to create intercultural dialogue, understanding and celebration. This February, the company will bring an exciting programme of free events to The British Museum, Celebrating Peru, as part of their wider ORIGINS Festival. Highlights from Celebrating Peru will include a Quechua shaman performing a traditional blessing, Quechua performers bringing puppetry, scissor dances and Baroque music, and an internationally-acclaimed film brought as tribute to its Indigenous Peruvian director. Four drop-in workshops will allow visitors to get hands-on with felt, embroidery and delicious Peruvian food. Kicking off the festival on Thursday 17th February is Amazon Visions, brought by Quechua theatre maker José Navarro, who uses a cast of exquisite hand-made puppets to tell the story of the Peruvian Amazon, its extraordinary importance and its devastating destruction.
The many wonderful characters in Amazon Visions reminds us of the richness of animal life and the complexity of how every creature on Earth is connected. Our actions here can affect even the smallest creatures in the furthest places, so how can our actions also help those in need? Inspired by his Peruvian native roots, José Navarro creates unique and enticing performances that are accessible for all ages. Wiñaypacha (Eternity) follows on Friday 18th February, as the first feature film shot entirely in the Indigenous Aymara language. A deeply emotional experience featuring stunning cinematography, this film is set in a remote farmhouse near the peaks of the Andes. Nestled over 5,000 metres above sea level and a day’s journey from the nearest town, this is the only place Wilka and Phaxsi have Page | 2 called home. Elderly but still mobile, the couple tend to their beloved herd of sheep as they live a near-solitary existence of subsistence. As the passage of time and circumstance leave their lives hanging in a fragile balance, the couple yearn for their long-absent son to return home from the city.
Wiñaypacha (Eternity) has swept up awards around the world. Directed by the late Óscar Catacora, it has been Oscar-nominated as Best International Feature Film, nominated for best Ibero-American film at the 33rd edition of the Goya Awards in Spain and winner of the 2018 award for Best Peruvian Feature Film from the Peruvian Film Press Association (APRECI). Showing at The British Museum as a tribute to Óscar Catacora, this is a heartfelt story in a beautiful setting that will touch your heart and soul. A very special evening of traditional music and dance will fill the British Museum’s Great Court to bring the programme to a close on Friday 18th February. Indigenous Quechua shaman Kurikundi will open the evening by performing a blessing. Baroque music from Indigenous Peru will be brought by Rafael Montero in Indigenous languages Aymara and Quechua, while Sumaq Ayllu will perform Folk music. Performer José Navarro will return alongside José a Fernandez to perform a Ritual Scissor Dance. Additional workshops are spread across both days of the programme. Border Crossings introduces Peruvian hand embroider Bella Lane to the programme, who will bring her expertise as a practitioner of ancestral Paracaas embroidery to teach visitors its history and techniques, so they can make work that will contribute to an artistic installation in The British Museum. Storytelling performances and felt-making workshops will also run from The British Museum, and delicious Peruvian food will be available to underscore the celebration of Indigenous culture.
Celebrating Peru forms part of Border Crossings’ wider ORIGINS Festival, which is the UK’s only large-scale multidisciplinary Festival of Indigenous arts and culture. ORIGINS was founded in 2009 and is presented biennially, previously showing the work of Indigenous Australians, Native peoples of the Americas, Māori, Pacific Islanders, Samí and many others. Partners have included Southbank,
Shakespeare’s Globe and the British Library, while Border Crossings has previously worked with The British Museum for their 2015 exhibition INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA and in the film MAGNETIC NORTH for their Arctic exhibition. Border Crossings has been creating vibrant spaces of creative enquiry in response to the contemporary globalised world since 1995, driven by their mission to embrace diversity, champion community and encourage social, cultural and political progression through artistic expression. Border Crossings’ ORIGINS Festival is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
