Diana Riesco-Lind

Distance is a looped sound installation in which I speak in Swedish without actually knowing the language. The speech was well rehearsed and edited in the attempt to speak as accurately as possible. The goal was to speak in the language of my grandfather’s side of the family, to fulfill the desires of my great-grandmother as recorded in the writing on the back of an old photograph of my great-grandmother “... this is a photo of your grandfather, Harry's Mather, she would love to hear you talking in Swedish...” , this text was written by my grandmother and the photo was given to me at my arrival to Sweden. The text that I read in Swedish is the story of how Harry's mother loses track of Harry during his lengthy emigration journey and his initial years in Peru, only finding him using the services of Interpol after a number of years had passed. Presented as in installation,the work was shown in a basic environment with a 2x2 m concrete pond echoing the sound of the voice. ...

Legacy: a gift of property Video Installation, mixed media. This video installation is based on interviews that questions different aspects of a specific group of family related immigrants that came from Peru to Sweden in different years 1973 to 2008. It reflects on the individual construction of identity through migration and suggests the creation of new individual nations or islands from the association we have with different lands, and of our memories creating the feeling of belonging to all of them or none. ...I had finished my studies and I was working at a gas station waiting for tickets to come to Sweden... ...I don’t see a difference between me and a Swede. Maybe they see me differently, but I don’t see the difference... ...I always say that I am from Peru, from Pucallpa, from the Amazon region of Peru. .. ...I don't feel now neither Peruvian nor Swede. I am a universal person... ...I have never thought about teaching my kids about Peru. Maybe I have forgotten. I ...

Afecta (Lima. August 2009) Entrando a un espacio, caminam os, respiramos, observamos y en todo lo que hacemos modificamos de un modo u otro este espacio. Si pudiéramos visualizar nuestra propia influe ncia sobre cosas y personas , ¿cómo se vería? Afecta, p arte de la tal vez sencilla idea de que todas las personas son valiosa s por el hecho de existir. Con el sólo hecho de existir, cada persona modifica o afecta de algún modo el mundo como pieza que se conecta infinitamente. Estas ideas las conecto a mis estudios previos con comunidades Shipibo – Conibo, en las que tradicionalmente se considera que el mundo está lleno de diseños como energía que une todo. Cada persona tiene un diseño individual que puede ser percibido por todos los sentidos y es afectado por nuestros estados de ánimo y salud en general. Asocio este código o este diseño individual con la huella digital, que también tiene la particularidad de ser únicas e irrepetibles. Prolongo y desarrollo el diseño que m e...

Historia del Abuelo works on the theme of origin and influence and the exploration of ideas of migration, oral tradition and family. . This is a video installation of a narrative nature attempting to create family and generational parallels. The story told is of my grandfather Harry Lind, as it was related to my brothers and I, by my grandmother when we were children as a bedtime tale after his death. Harry Lind was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in the year 1904. He left Sweden during the great depression for South America. Upon his arrival in South America in Buenos Aires, Argentina he continued on to Chile, Bolivia and ultimately Peru where he fell in love with the Amazon and its people. The story develops progressively and chronologically by the narrative of my grandmother who chose the moment of her marriage as finish point. Upon entering the installation there is a space with a wide, comfortable bench in front of a large flat screen television. In the video shown you can hear a v...

Affect: to produce an effect upon, as a: to produce a material influence upon or alteration in. (Piece presented in the "What happened to November?" exhibition, Rotor 1 gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden,  the "Afecta" exhbition, La Galería gallery, Lima, Peru, Bai Jueta, e-star gallery, Lima, Peru, Retrospective: Legado: regalo de propiedad, Centro Cultural Pucallpa Gallery, Pucallpa, Peru)  When we enter an area we walk, breathe, look and touch; in all we do we modify in one w ay or another the space. If we could see our personal effect on things and people how would this look? Our existence and the existence of everyone and everything affect the world in distinct ways in an infinite chain reaction. Our personal influence in the world could never be measured by our own eye. The installation This piece consists of an installation in a dark room where you can only see a dimly lit image of a hand on the wall. When you touch the hand a fingerprint appears in the center...

In parallel to this thesis I did a series of over fifteen paintings and ten ceramic pieces. I decided to do painting and ceramics because they are the most popular artistic expressions within the Shipibo – Conibo. The series of ceramics are more abstract. They are part of an installation about how different aspects of life affect us. The images on the ceramic pieces each represent a different aspect such as: the people around us, our genes, our homes, our food, our natural world. All the ceramics pieces are plate shaped and are placed on red dirt specially brought from Pucallpa ("Pucallpa" in quechua means red dirt and it’s the color of most of the Ucayali region). The plates were placed in the dirt and actually look like puddles when I cover them with water. The dirt also symbolizes the people that live in this land. The idea was that the images painted on the ceramics are like the water that slowly filters through the ceramic and affects the dirt. What the images represen...