Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Elyla

$Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Elyla$

\Elyla

Elyla, *1989 in Chontales, Nicaragua

They live and work between Basel, Switzerland and Masaya, Nicaragua

“I seek to propose a palpable ‘cochona (queer)’ utopia that explores and challenges the meaning of mestizaje. I recognize my cochoneidad (queerness) as my greatest anticolonial weapon. I aim to disrupt colonial hegemonic cultural narratives and to reclaim sexual dissidence as ancestral memory and knowledge.”

-Elyla

Elyla (*1989, Chontales, Nicaragua) is a performance artist, activist and researcher from Chontales, Nicaragua. Land of Chontal indigenous people. Their work deals with creating resistance to colonial, imperialist and western ideologies around the construction of identity politics and nation-state cultural narratives, specifically as it relates to mestizaje, queerness (cochoneidad) and indigenous ancestry. Elyla is committed to research how decolonial reflections can lead to a community based anti-colonial artistic praxis in Central America.

Selected Works

$Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Elyla \ Yugo Chontal (2024)$

Elyla

Yugo Chontal (2024)

Video, sound
5 + 2 AP

$Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Elyla \ Torita-encuetada (2023)$

Elyla

Torita-encuetada (2023)

Video, sound
10:10 min
5 + 2 AP

<p>Based in Masaya, Elyla reinterprets folk traditions to disrupt our relationships with them and the power structures they represent. A dynamic force in performance art and activism from Central America, Elyla coined the term „barro-mestiza“ to take distance from the traditional reading of mestizaje during their ongoing process of decolonization. Elyla’s self-directed artistic research at the margins of academia manifests itself as a form of experimental auto-ethnography that spans into video performance, installations, photo-performance, theater, and community- based artivism. Their work questions the hegemonic constructions of identity politics and nationalist cultural narratives relating to mestizaje, queerness and ancestral indigenous cosmovision. Actively dismantling entrenched powers within society, they view their own body as collec- tive territory and me- mory; as a site where imposed systems articulate structural challenges. The artist’s early work contested the patriarchal and repressive policies upheld by the Latin American left and its effect on queer existence.</p><p>Elyla‘s video-performance, Torita-encuetada (2023), an anti-colonial ceremony, explores liberation from the colonial yoke through a fire ritual rooted in a Nicaraguan cultural practice called “Toro encuetado.” Serving as a poignant act of political remembrance, the ritual dance or mitote calls for a return to earth-honoring practices and for the decolonization of mestizaje of sexual and gender diverse identities in Mesoamerica. Collaborating with Nicaraguan filmmaker Milton Guillen and music by Susy Shock and Luigi Bridges, the filmed ritual delves into the encoun- ter of ancestral corpodivinities from Nicaragua‘s Pacific region, inviting viewers to witness the intersections of culture, anticolonial artistic praxis and the sacred. Committed to chal- lenging societal norms, Elyla transforms the “cochón” (queer) utopia into a revolutionary artistic practice of the now. Dedicated in honor of indigenous Mangue-chorotega cultural leaders and guardians of ancestral knowledge, Gustavo Herrera and Cristian Ruiz (1977-2022), the artist’s friends, collaborators and guides.</p>

$Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Elyla \ Ofrenda (2020)$