como se quiere un lugar pa que los niños quieran su tierra (how to love a place so the children will love their land) (2023)
A widely held belief about Puerto Rico’s Indigenous people is that they no longer exist, having been decimated by disease, warfare, and colonization brought by European settlers. Yet histories, stories, and practices continue to endure, carried by people and the land itself. Here, Laura Sofía Pérez presents evocative stills from Puerto Rico’s interior. The film moves between black-and-white and color footage; between tight close-ups of plants and petroglyphs and wide views of the mountainous topography; between continuous movement and still images that advance to the distinct rhythm of a slide carousel.
Voice-over narration by the artist, poet, and archaeologist Esteban Valdés and Indigenous activist Pluma Bárbara weaves together oral histories and personal reflections. Their accounts affirm the endurance of Indigenous knowledge in Puerto Rico and illuminate the syncretic traditions shaped by centuries of intersecting religious practices.
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About Contemporary Film, Video, and Sound Series
Laura Sofía Pérez: como se quiere un lugar pa que los niños quieran su tierra (how to love a place so the children will love their land) is part of the Contemporary Film, Video, and Sound Series, which is dedicated to a rotating selection of works focusing on alternative archives. The series is curated by Katja Rivera, Curator of Contemporary Art and support is generously provided by The Margaret L. Lane Fund, NEH Distinguished Teaching Professorship in the Humanities at Colorado College, and the CC Music Department.
Top image: Film still of como se quiere un lugar pa que los niños quieran su tierra (how to love a place so the children will love their land) (2023) by Laura Sofía Pérez. Courtesy the artist.
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