An ensemble of four videos constitutes the installation La huaca pleure (2024). Pebbles gathered from the banks of the Doller River in the France’s Vosges region and strips of brown wrapping paper recall the colours of the Peruvian desert and create an environment for the videos.

2024

Vidéo 4K transfert HD

6 min 34 sec

Two videos document the unfolding stages of a huaquería (unauthorized archaeological excavation) Beltrame attended in Pakat- namu, in the costal desert of northern Peru. Fuelled by coca leaves and tabaco, the huaqueros Terreco, Oscar, Marlon and José Luis practice divination and interrogate the huaca to find graves. Then they probe the earth with baquetas, and when they think they have located graves, they dig one or more holes in search of ritual objects. When teardrop-shaped clumps of sand begin to slide down the sides of the tomb, it’s said that the huaca is weeping, and it’s time to get out before being buried alive.

A third, looped video shown on a flat screen shows an example of a mesa (table, in Spanish) in Terreco’s home, in the rural commu- nity of Jequetepeque. This mesa, a kind of syncretic altar, an assemblage of items found in huaquero treasure hunts, is set up on a couch in the living area. It features a set of human skulls used in healing rites.

La huaca pleure, avec les huacos

2024

Vidéo 4K transfert HD

10min 19sec

A fourth video shows rotating huacos (pre-Columbian ritual ceramics). These pieces are from a private, semi-clandestine local collection of items acquired over the years from huaqueros in the Pacasmayo region by the father of the current owner