<I>Vara del premio No. 3: Porto Laino, Giovanni Buelvas, Manuel Casseres, Anònimo</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1989
name: label: Created by
content: Ana Mercedes Hoyos, Colombian, 1942 - 2014
label: Subject of
content: Porto Laino, Colombian
label: Subject of
content: Giovanni Buelvas, Colombian
label: Subject of
content: Manuel Casseres, Colombian
label: Subject of
content: Unidentified Man or Men
notes: label: Caption
content: A painter, printmaker, and sculptor, as well as a photographer and one of Colombia’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Ana Mercedes Hoyos focused much of her work on the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio de Palenque. Located on the country’s Caribbean coast, across from Panama, Palenque was the first free African town in the Americas and is home to locals known as “Palenqueros,” descendants of enslaved persons who fled the area near Cartagena after a 16th century slave revolt.
label: Caption
content: Described as “an entirely Afro-Latin community,” the inhabitants have preserved a distinctive matriarchal culture and a local language derived from a mix of Kikongo (a language associated with Angola and the Congo), Spanish and Portuguese. Hoyos’ work in all media (paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs) captures the vibrant Palenque community, bringing their customs to life and offering vivid glimpses of a world, a people, and a way of life that provides a rich demonstration of the African diasporic experience in the Americas.
label: Description
content: This is a color photograph capturing four young men climbing a pole for the San Basilio de Palenque’s festivity of vara de premio (prize rod). Depicted against a white sky, the men are arranged in pairs. At the bottom, visible from the waist up, one man in a purple t-shirt clings to a second shirtless man in red shorts, who clings to the pole. Standing on their shoulders, two more men grab onto the pole, one is shirtless in black shorts and the other is in a light-colored sleeveless shirt and blue shorts. Both are barefoot. The pole extends from their outstretched hands through the top of the frame. On the verso are two inscriptions: [Vara de Premio (cucaña) 3 / 1989] at bottom left and [hos / 89] at bottom right.
place: label: Place depicted
content: San Basilio de Palenque, Bolívar, Colombia, Latin America, South America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: African diaspora
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Holidays and festivals
label: Topic
content: Photography
label: Topic
content: Social life and customs
label: Topic
content: Youth
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Classification
content: Photographs and Still Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the artist Ana Mercedes Hoyos
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2015.166.17
objectType: label: Type
content: chromogenic color prints
label: Type
content: digital prints
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Ana Mercedes Hoyos
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: dye and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 59 1/16 × 39 3/8 in. (150 × 100 cm)