Colombia is a country of hidden masks. It is far from the big cities, in remote places and small towns, that little-known masks come to life in celebrations, rites, popular festivals and carnivals. The diversity of the masks in terms of their origin (Hispanic, Indigenous and African) is the result of centuries of cultural syncretism between the Christian tradition, Indigenous customs and the new reality of Africans brought to these lands as slaves.

The exhibition “The Other Faces of Colombia. Claudio Rama collection of Latin American masks” is made possible thanks to the generosity and support of the Embassy of the Republic of Colombia in Uruguay and MAPI – Museum of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art, of the Municipality of Montevideo. It presents ten cultural manifestations with their most representative masks. Among them are those used in the festivities of the Riosucio Carnival, the Barranquilla Carnival, the rural patron saint festivals of the department of Boyacá, the Tikuna rituals of the Amazon rainforest, the carnivals of Ibagué, the Cuadrillas de San Martín, and the popular celebrations in the Vereda de San Andrés in Girardota, in the city of Rio de Oro in César and in the Sibundoy Valley.

Some of these mask traditions are very widespread, but most are expressions little known outside their places of origin. In all of them we can see the traces of the hybridity that has emerged from the social and cultural mixing of Europeans, Indigenous people and Africans, which has marked the history of Colombia and of all our America. But we also find cultural manifestations that have undergone almost no changes, such as the Tikuna rituals in the Amazon rainforest. As part of another cultural world, these pieces made of tree bark show the intimate relationship with nature. So do the masks used by the Indigenous people of the Sibundoy Valley in Alto Putumayo, an ancestral expression of the Inga and Kämentsá peoples, used in the ancient ceremonies of yagé.

The best known have been the masks of the Barranquilla Carnival (declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO). This popular festival, which originated in the 19th century, brings together millions of people and multiple cultural and folk varieties of the Colombian Caribbean. This carnival features costumes that invoke different animal species, people and mythological beings, with countless inventions and new ideas every year. Most of the masks are worn and danced in the revelry on hot days of festivity that once had a more religious imprint. Among the most traditional masks, the Marimonda stands out, made with a long nose and big ears to ridicule ‘high society’.

As in the rest of our Latin America, the Colombian masks of Devils, woven into a dance-drama between good and evil, as in the carnivals of Barranquilla or Riosucio, are testimonies of European evangelization as well as elements of cultural resistance of the different peoples, groups and individuals oppressed since colonial times. Another mask tradition of European origin present in Colombia is the Danza de los Matachines. It takes place in many towns of Antioquia’s mining region, in El Tolima de los Pijaos and in the city of Ibagué. In its European genesis, the “Matachín” was the masked buffoon or ridiculous figure, but it was also a dance for the coronation of the chief or the preparation for wars practiced by different Indigenous peoples. Both manifestations remind us of the interwoven history of our continent, the contributions of the different groups and societies, the syncretisms, the impositions, the resistances and the dangers, today more present than ever, that threaten the greatest wealth of Latin America, its cultural diversity.

Like many of the pieces in my collection, these were acquired over many years. During this mask hunting in Colombia, many people and institutions helped me. I am deeply grateful to them, especially to the Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (UNAD) and many of its teams, thanks to which I have had long working stays and multiple trips through various towns.

Eco. Claudio Rama.