Barrileteros Almas del Viento

Established 2014 in Sumpango Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

White Bay Power Station

El danzante (The Dancing one), 2019
Resurreccion del Maiz (Resurrection of the corn), 2017
tissue paper
Courtesy the artists

For the town of Sumpango the Festival de Barriletes Gigantes, or Giant Kite Festival, takes place as part of its All Saints’ Day celebration. Believed to have been held for over 3,000 years the festival features kites depicting anything from scenes of ancient folklore to critical contemporary issues. For kitemaking and flying group Barrileteros Almas del Viento the kites are an opportunity to grapple with the underlying cultural tensions in what they lovingly refer to as the “land of giant kites and a thousand colours”.

One great kite is adorned with ears of golden corn, a pillar of the diet and spirituality of First Nations peoples of the Americas, now symbols of Indigenous advocacy against the US-owned Monsanto Corporation. The corporation’s ruthless policy of large-scale genetically modified agriculture has created agrarian monocultures across Mexico and Guatemala, not unlike colonial plantations of the past, devastating to local economies.

El danzante (The Dancing one) includes an illustration of two monkeys from the Popol Vuh, the Mayan Book of Counsel. An ancient scripture, written after the Spanish conquest by the Quiche Mayan lords to preserve tradition, it contains the tale of brothers Hunahpu and Ixbalanque who were transformed into monkeys by their cousins. Destined to spend their life as animals, the brothers would become defenders of the arts and music, seen here sitting atop the skulls of Spanish conquistadors and propping up the festival character of Miquito (little monkey).

Read more about the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, by purchasing the catalogue here.