Bartolina Xixa, Ramita Seca La Colonialidad Permanente (Dry Twig, The Permanent Coloniality), video, 2019. Courtesy Bartolina Xixa.
Maximiliano Mamani is an Andean artist from Argentina. He currently resides in Tilcara, Jujuy. He is a dancer and teacher of folk dances. He studied Anthropology at the National University of Salta and was a fellow of the National Fund for the Arts of Argentina. Through this scholarship he was able to study dance with Carlos Antunez in Mexico, from a perspective of the fusion of folklore and LGBTQ identities. As a drag queen artist, he has created Bartolina Xixa, a “diverse drag” inspired by the revolutionary leader Bartolina Sisa and the cholas from La Paz. Through Bartolina Xixa, Mamani addresses LGTBQ constructions, coloniality, conceptions of gender and sexual diversity, environmental abuses, racism, violence against women and the usurpation of territories in Latin America.
Bartolina Xixa is defined by Mamani as “a critique of thought and the colonial matrix.” Through it he establishes a dialogue with his reality and builds a body of work that is part of his own life experiences. The performance Los funerales de Bartolina Xixa is exhibited at the 11th Berlin Biennial of Contemporary Art (2020).
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