Sair García

Between 2013 and 2019, the Colombian artist Sair García dedicated more that 90 pieces to the “Magdalena” series, which are today gathered in a book of the same title published by the Duque Arango gallery. This series consists of a collection of oil paintings on metal sheets, usually stainless steel but also bronze, depicting scenes and landscapes on the banks of the Magdalena River. The river is a witness and testimony to the history of Colombia given that it has served as the main commercial route for the country throughout the centuries and more recently it has been key for the transport of some of its most exported products: bananas and cocaine. The scenes painted by García don’t include notions of violence but instead present the landscape as a silent scene that’s tragic past is hidden beneath the undergrowth and under water. The metal surface not only contributes to the confusion between sky and water as a continuous element that prevents the distinction between past and future, but metal (like water) is also a conductive medium for communication. In the pieces that concern us here, mass graves and other vestiges of violence are camouflaged behind lush banana plants.