Detente “Vade Retro”;

Between symbol and ritual, myth, customs, and the Offering
memory emerges; the most ephemeral gift of societies.
How to remember? How to become aware of the meanings?
While our boat drifts, threats arise
everywhere.
Nevertheless, there is a memory that lies in the depths
of that sea.
Towards there we head, and we build the seduction of
metaphor.
The one that will remind us and give us meaning.
We will seek the Mother root,
That with which we identify: what we eat, what we
smell, what we sing, what we see, our references and
our syncretic manifestations of worship,
a common wind,
that perhaps we call
Nation
or sense of Nation.

The Detente in this case is a small ex-voto of our worship,
exquisitely embroidered, (stop, the heart of Jesus is
with me). Today it’s in disuse, but with a trace in memory,
in that collective memory that we call a sense of
belonging.
The vibrant red background, of eccentric and aggressive energy, receives
the press clippings,
that speak of violence, of abuses, of destructive audacity,
like stories already known and repetitive.
A cyan blue barrier trying to stop and withstand this destructive maelstrom,
has on it black and white squares and rectangles,
it’s morse code and again says DETENTE.
The terror represented by the large spotted butterfly that
appears among the pile of news; an ominous symbol in the
Andes.
It responds to the yaraví collected by Arguedas in “All the Bloods”

“Where do you come from,
Who are you,
Spotted butterfly.
Do not hurt me,
Do not bring me pain.
Go back, go back, for pity’s sake”

Chapter VIII of “All the Bloods” by José María Arguedas
Yaraví of Ayacucho

“A plea, a propitiatory offering of redemption.”

A crowned Rose rises among gold and the arabesques of
a baroque past, they are gold and highlight her,
our Peruvian Saint.
Saint Rose.
Rose, how do I know you?
though the pleasure of looking at you embalms my existence;
perhaps you are distant for a migrant of basic needs and
therefore, at the base, appears,
Sarita Colonia,
once again, among arabesques and gold leaf.
Our popular Saint with the scent of multitudes and
Andean references:
a social symbol of a new city crammed with labyrinths and
needs.

A garland of roses and olive leaves, painted at the base;
once again,
Isabel Flores de Oliva,
the longed-for peace adorns the feet of our
DETENTE.

Carmen Reátegui
Villa
Abril 11, 2024