The Putumayo way
This article was adapted and originally published on The Daily Texan website on November 7, 2023.
Feature photo of white beaded tiger necklace by Katie Quinlan as she coincides locations with the artist, NYC Union Station.
A kaleidoscope of beads lights Juan Riaño’s table stand. He lays out the handcrafts one by one: the tricolor macaw birds, the threaded chest laces, the traditional wooden masks. He leaves a piece of Putumayo, Colombia, outside a busy West Campus intersection.
Between both ACL weekends, Juan Guillermo Riaño Flore’s indigenous jewelry and photograph prints appeared along South Congress Avenue and in the shade of San Antonio Street outside the university. Riaño, the lead singer of Condormulticolor, said he is traveling the states selling handcrafts from different regions of Colombia as he makes a stop in Austin on the way to New York City.
Photo by Katie Quinlan.
“I took photographs of our heritage in the coffee area related to the nature, to the architecture, and to the traditional parades,” Riaño said. “(Colombia) is full of culture. It is full of happiness, color, youth and people.”
Colombia is divided into 32 areas that are called “departments.” Riaño said his handcrafts are made in the Putumayo department where tribes connect with spirits and nature through rituals, like the consumption of the Ayahuasca drink. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant brew made by folk healers in the Amazon basins.
Riaño himself is from the Quindío department, meaning “the land of the Gods” in its native Quechua language. His town is nested in the Andes mountains known for coffee farms.
“I come from a place that is remote in Colombia, full of farmers,” Riaño said. “Their houses are built by hands and it’s a craftsmanship. There are cultures everywhere that you can meet, find, and preserve.”
Last month, Condormulticolor released the music video for its latest single, Primera Fila, in which Riaño debuted roller skating in a Guacamaya bird costume with golden wings through the city. Primera Film translates to First Row.
Growing up in the ‘90s, Riaño said he was influenced by the rock scene. Connecting more to his roots has transformed that attitude.
“When you are young, you want to be alternative, disruptive, punk, electronic,” he said. “But when you grow up, you start to recognize your own territory to preserve symbols. If I don't work to preserve my heritage… I don’t have roots. At the end of the day, rebellion is all about love.”
Colombian culture expresses itself in a variety of ways on college campuses, too. Santiago Melo, an international student from Colombia studying first-year biology at UT Austin, said Bogota is a hub for native artists because of their migration during the war. Each style differs depending on the region.
“One uses different colors, or the other tries to embody different animals or textiles,” Melo said. “A famous one is from the Wayuu tribe in Guajira, and they make very beautiful bags that are called Mochila Wayuu.”
Melo said one of the country’s largest art festivals is in his hometown, Bogota, called the Expoartesanias. The festival is important for reaching artists far away or in more inaccessible areas, he said.
“I think it's like the roots of Colombia,” Melo said. “But showing that to other countries is very important. It's also very beautiful.”
David Mendieta, a sophomore computer science major and a Planet Longhorn officer, lived in Bogota for 19 years before coming to UT. His grandfather from Tolima left home when he was still very young to escape conflict in the area.
“Every time I visit home, I have conversations with my grandfather about his life, he has a lot of stories to tell,” Mendieta said. “I keep notes on my phone about what he tells me.”
Some of these stories translate into art, and the galleries in Bogota, he said, depict both violent and life-affirming works. Mendieta named Fernando Botero, Federico Uribe, and Pedro Ruiz as his examples.
“In a lot of Colombian art, you will find it revolving around violence because it's our past,” Mendieta said. “However, Colombian art is not all about that. It's also about life, about happiness, about colors.”
