The Andean in the murals of Jesús Flores Walpaq

Abstract

In this work we explore how the Andean is constructed in the production of murals by the visual artist Jesús Flores Walpaq. We focus on the definition of characteristics shaping the representation of the Andean and the process of semantic and rhetorical sliding in the enunciation. As the artist became an authorized enunciator, the construction of narratives on the murals went through considerable changes. While no radical differences can be discerned in the use of colour, the shape, the line, etc., the change is significant when it comes to the rhetorics incorporating the Indian in the pictorial discourse. Our article is based on the observation of changes in the construction of the artistic self, from a critique of the role of academic art producer to take on the role of “labourer of arts” committed with his political, ideological and artistic context. For Flores Walpaq this meant joining the struggles for indigenous rights. In sum, this text brings us to reflect upon the conditions of production of questions about identity and the answers attempted and transformed by the subjects.