I believe there is another type of assembly, which I call affective assembly. Its elements do not necessarily have to be close to each other, but rather it is the bonds between them that generate an invisible yet strong form of union. It is in this way that the pieces that comprise ‘Al amanecer sale la luna’ (At Dawn the Moon Rises) emerge.

Fredy Clavijo

 Fredy Clavijo’s research practices respond to his careful listening to the place, its inhabitants, the materials, and the relationship between them as condensed in material culture, that is, the utilitarian objects that result from interaction with the territory. Thus, the artist arrives at his installations, objects, and drawings, seeking to glimpse the beauty of things through language, associating images by means of logical paths, not necessarily straight or direct, but rather constellations made up of points that connect in all directions.

Thinking about going to a new place with the aim of carrying out a project first involves a preconception or preconceived idea, then a plan, and then, once there, adapting that plan to the daily rhythms and particularities of the territory, which are almost always far removed from the foreigner's imagination.

As the recipient of an Idartes grant, which requires applicants to submit a structured project proposal, Fredy Clavijo arrived in Santa Cruz de Mompox at the end of 2024 to participate in a residency at El Boga Casa Taller. Encountering the strong presence of crafts that are less representative in the town's popular imagination, such as blacksmithing, woodworking, oar making, sandblasting, ceramics, and chair weaving, he decided to shift his plan toward a conversation with the artisans.

During the artist's walks around Santa Cruz de Mompox at sunset, observing the recurring visits outside the house in rocking chairs, he felt that as people rocked, they fanned themselves with their whole bodies, swaying through the open weave. A curved movement, the same curve he saw in the rafts, in the rocking horse, in the banana leaf, in the hand fan, in the rowing motion, in the hammock. He configured these gestures into sketches of non-utilitarian objects, which he passed on to the artisans Glenys Rocha Pupo for blacksmithing, Jorge Piñeres for woodworking, Eberto Ramírez for clay, and Eliseo Torres Mercado, who made guásimo poles for navigating the sandbanks, which he also accompanied with verses from his poems.

It could be said that the daily life of the town depends on artisans because they manufacture the objects necessary for economic and social activities. Fishing, water transport, sand extraction, rocking in a rocking chair at sunset, and swatting mosquitoes with a musengue before bedtime, ready to rise with the moon, for at dusk the moon rises when we are in the daytime life of the city, while at dawn the moon rises when the tides rule life and the heat is heavy.