This article, written by the Colombian critic Miguel González for the reviews section of the 8th volume of the magazine Re-vista de arte y arquitectura en Latinoamérica [Review of Art and Architecture in Latin America] (published in 1982), includes two brief reviews of a couple of important artistic events in Cali, the capital of the Valle del Cauca region of Colombia. The first one, subtitled “María Evelia Marmolejo,” reviews this Colombian artist’s public performance at the small plaza adjoining the Centro Administrativo Municipal de Cali (CAM) [Cali Municipal Administrative Center] in 1981 as part of the Anónimos [Anonymous] series. The artist was dressed in white with her face festooned with Band-Aids. She cut her foot and walked on a runway covered in white paper. She then put a Band-Aid on the cut and left. The second review discusses the first full-length film produced by the Colombian cinematographer Luis Ospina, briefly outlining the story, listing the cast, and recommending the movie to readers. The film, Pura Sangre [Pure Blood], was entirely shot in Cali with backing from Focine and premiered at the Festival de Cine in Cartagena in 1982.       

This article is of interest because it identifies two specific artistic events of national importance that identify the city of Cali as the home of the Colombian artistic and cinematographic avant-garde in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The article includes a brief text written by the artist María Evelia Marmolejo (b. 1958) describing her performance and explaining the technical and formal aspects involved in its production: the time, space, materials, and acts that were presented. Very little documentary material is available on this performance artist, so this review is a valuable record. Miguel González (b. 1950) provides a detailed description of the performance, including a clear reading of the symbols and the social and political implications of the event, which allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of issues such as anonymity, violence, and the artist’s curatorial approach.   

It is particularly interesting to see how González manages to maintain his distance as a viewer and as a critic in spite of the proximity imposed, in Marmolejo’s case, by her text and, in the case of Luis Ospina (b. 1949), by the city of Cali, the scene of a shared experience. González outlines the plot of Ospina’s film, referring to the social issues—the violence and the horror—that are covered in the story. These same issues were addressed by artists and cinematographers in Cali in the 1980s as a result of the violence wrought by the growing drug trade, the proliferation of the cartels, and the subsequent turf wars, hit men, widespread crime, and increasing levels of social injustice in the country. The look and the alternative spirit visible in both works are attractive and reflect the central themes mentioned above.   

María Evelia Marmolejo studied philosophy, psychology, and history and theory of art at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Cali (1978–1980). Though as of 2009, she was not currently working as an artist, her performances in the Anónimos [Anonymous] series in the early 1980s were unquestionably pioneer events in performance art in Colombia. She took part in the VII Salón Atenas [7th Atenas Salon] and the exhibition Actos y situaciones [Acts and Situations] (1981) with the artist Rosemberg Sandoval at the Galería San Diego in Bogota. 

Miguel González, the Colombian critic and curator, was a professor of art history at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Cali. He was the director of the Galería Ciudad Solar from 1971 to 1973 and is currently the curator at the Museo de Arte la Tertulia in Cali, a post he has held since 1970.