Ray’s Reading Response 11/11/2023

hy2873@nyu.edu

This week the reading about “Making Presence” by Diana Taylor. In the article, she describes a naked woman Regina José Galindo standing on the earth with four side holes. The performance “Tierra (Earth)”, originating from Guatemala, is a poignant and powerful expression that delves into the themes of violence, human rights abuses, and the historical suffering of indigenous peoples. The performance is a profound commentary on the scars of political and social trauma, particularly in the context of Guatemala’s tumultuous history, which includes a long civil war and extensive human rights violations.

 

“Women were a ‘military objective’. Soldiers raped women and girls not only as the spoils of war but as part of the systematic and intentional plan to destroy the Ixil ethnic group by exercising violence on women’s bodies as a way to unravel the social connectivities that maintain the Ixil population” (p. 108). From my understanding, Galindo used her body to create the performance to illustrate the real traumatic experience of people and confront the audience with the harsh realities many would prefer to ignore or forget.

 

When I watched the video, it made me think about how to make a presence in reality. How can make a performance with from the political activities? We should let people remember what happened before, let them recall the histories.