In this chapter of Otras Miradas = Other Glances, the critic Carmen María Jaramillo reviews the visual art produced by the Colombian artist Patricia Bravo. Jaramillo devotes part of the chapter and some of her interview to discussing the work Mata que Dios perdona (1) [Kill, God forgives] (1998). The images in this work question the standard concepts of “earth” and “heaven,” understood as discrete places where life and death, respectively, take place. Jaramillo refers to this project in her review of other works by Bravo, particularly in terms of the background and form that they have in common. The fact that Bravo’s photograph always appear in her artwork features prominently in the interview; she explains that it is not about her, however, but about assuming other identities from the perspective of her own self as a way of expressing the universal. Bravo uses photography as her medium for expressing (and especially for resignifying) her essential subjects: the city, the body, and memory.

The visual art produced by Patricia Bravo (b. 1966) is based on the idea of using photography as a form of expression that transcends the literal. Bravo uses her photographs to explore certain subjects or aspects of her environment, and to present shrewd interpretations of situations that affect human lives, both individually and socially. It is interesting to see how she creates links between things through the repetition of images, the use of a reticule, and a serial strategy, among others, to create a narrative about a particular problem or situation that she has observed. Her work is steeped in the language of cinematography; sometimes her images appear to be frozen frames chosen from a scene, an effect that tends to truncate continuity though it also produces critical reflections on the individual and his/her relationship to a particular context. The exchange of ideas between Bravo and Carmen María Jaramillo (b. 1958), that is included in the catalogue text, explains Bravo’s interest in taking media reports and making them more complex. Her goal is to distort the theatricality and speed of the language of the media. This is a very important document because of the insights [it offers] into the visual art of this photographer, precisely because it quotes the artist as she describes her work in her own words.  

The exhibition Otras Miradas =­ Other Glances that was organized in 2004 by the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs involved the presentation of a visual narrative about the work of ten Colombian artists who address the country’s sociopolitical situation from creative, serious, and intelligent perspectives. The artists who took part in this exhibition were: Débora Arango (1907–2005), Beatriz González (b. 1938), Patricia Bravo (b. 1966), Johanna Calle (b. 1965), María Fernanda Cardoso (b. 1963), Clemencia Echeverri (b. 1950), María Elvira Escallón (b. 1964), Delcy Morelos (b. 1967), Libia Posada Restrepo (b. 1959), and Gloria Posada (b. 1967).  

This project included reviews of other interviews that were published in the catalogue mentioned above, which are of great importance because they expand on the concept of the curatorial narrative discussed by Jaramillo: “Otras miradas” [Other Glances] [see doc. no. 1092368]; “Libia Posada” [doc. no. 1099306]; “Patricia Bravo” [doc. no. 1131968]; and “María Elvira Escallón” [doc. no. 1091921].