Yauri Muenala, promoter of Yachay Tech University, presented his book Kikinkunawan: Common Visuals. This book is an academic analysis of the self-representation of the Kichwa-Otavalo audiovisual producers and started from the research that Yauri began during his Master’s Degree in Visual Anthropology at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences – Ecuador. The book was published by publisher Abya Yala and will be sold in its bookstores starting the last week of November 2018. For this book, the Author worked hand in hand with several artists to whom he seeks to pay tribute.

The pieces referenced in the academic document are fiction and were made by filmmakers from the Runacinema Audiovisual Laboratory. Kikinkunawan shows that self-representation in audiovisual pieces is part of a strategy to give historical continuity to the ethnic-cultural Kichwa-Otavalo identity. Thus, the book is another contribution to the literature on the leading and creative role of the indigenous people of Ecuador today. However, in this case, the author seeks to highlight the way in which this analysis reveals processes of re-appropriation and expressions of identity that make up a new scenario of political transformation of visual and narrative stereotypes. In addition, the author reflects, with those who were part of the process of the creation of the book, on the importance of audiovisual representations from an endogenous look.

Yauri also participated in the activities of the tenth International Art Biennial (SIART) in Bolivia, from October 9 to 16, 2018. Particularly, he participated in the Emerging Utopias talks with researchers from all Latin America, where common concerns and themes were discussed, generating an interdisciplinary academic space. In addition, Yauri was part of the days of anthropology and art “Polluted, popular in art” in Guayaquil. He opened the second day of conferences with the talk “Contemporary creative practices and strategies of Kichwa artists. A Runa challenge – Beyond the aesthetic representations “, on October 17, 2018.

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Yauri Muenala

Artist, audiovisual journalist and cultural promoter of Yachay Tech University. Master of Visual Anthropology at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences (FLACSO – Ecuador). In practice, he investigates the relationship between healthy-art and intercultural collaborative practices. He is an exponent of various artistic-cultural interventions in local and international spaces like Italy, France, the United States, Brazil, and Ecuador. His fields of research are linked to themes of visual self-representation as historical, ethnic-cultural continuity strategies. He is the co-founder of the Sumakruray Kichwa Art Group.