Cassette 3: El Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (1974)

**'Cityscapes in Art' exhibition (Room 2)** in El Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Lima. Introduction by Caty Velasquez, curator.

> *"Maybe she will object to this if I ever see her again. I suppose I should say when I see her again. I am sure we will have words, if I do see her again, but Claudia didn’t hold grudges. Doesn’t hold grudges. I’m trying to remember to use the present tense. Claudia is, not was. Claudia doesn’t hold grudges, but others do. Present tense, Roimata. Present tense."*
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The exhibit was home to works by multiple artists, including three pieces by Claudia Atieno, one of which was on loan from Roimata Mangakāhia, who also narrated the audio guide for the Atieno section. Atieno has now been missing for two years.

Roimata begins by stating that it is impossible to discuss Claudia's work without discussing her politics, which is in turn difficult, as she refuses to discuss her politics with anybody. Paradoxically, the only way to glean her politics is by looking at her art, which frequently contradicts itself to the observer's eye. It would be impossible to say whether her frustration with the Society is merely frustration, or actual rebellion.

She sketched cityscapes a lot, but rarely painted them, and it is implied that the three cityscapes of hers in the exhibits are the only known ones she has done.

## A Palace Removed

In the years following the removal of nations in 1952, national symbols such as flags, anthems, and state buildings and monuments were also removed. This painting depicts the removal of Buckingham Palace, which began in 1959 after it was deemed an inappropriate use of London cityspace. Over the course of eighteen months, the building would be deconstructed, moved, and reconstructed in Somerset and used as a museum of former-English history, while the former site would become community housing, offices, and shops.

Atieno depicted the painting halfway through its deconstruction, although it was a fanciful version of it. Each member of the construction crew easily carries upwards of six huge bricks on their back. The worker in the lower left of the painting has an unnatural smile under their load, which stoops them at a right angle. Atieno also depicted the lavish (and in places, fragile) interior furniture in amongst the demolition and deconstruction crew, although in reality all the decor had all been moved out beforehand.

The shadows in the rooms can appear like ghostly figures. Roimata asks the listener to consider which royal might be depicted in the ghostly shadow in the ballroom, suggesting a Henry, Queen Victoria, or even George VI; the incorporeal form of a now-powerless figurehead. Alfra Bond, a critic at the Times, described the painting as “facetious slander.” She wrote:

> *“Atieno wants to preserve history and culture but not at the cost of progress and peace."*
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Roimata also briefly recounts an event that Claudia invited Alfra to only for her and her guests to ignore her every attempt to start a conversation or be acknowledged in any way. She does not indicate what this has to do with the painting.

While it is easy to interpret Atieno's meaning as monarchist sympathy or regret over the loss of national identity, Roimata believes otherwise due to Claudia's philosophy regarding the ownership of anything. She professed to believe in shared ownership of near everything (including Roimata's still-in-use paintbrushes), and so it seemed unlikely to her that she would regret the loss of the monarchy or the Palace itself. Rather, she believes that Claudia intended to depict the not past, but the future, and all the people who would have use of the space and the reconstructed building when it was re purposed for the Society's benefit. She considers asking Claudia about the intended meaning of the painting when she returns.

## The Parade in Paris

After the Great Reckoning, Paris did not look like much of a city at all, because of the extent of the destruction and the repurposing for military use. It is unknown to Roimata whether or not the scene depicted in this painting was a real occurrence, but she concludes that it does not matter. There are cranes throughout the scene, and very few completed or restored buildings. In the streets, there is a ramshackle, unofficial parade. It its not a celebration with floats or balloons, but a mass of people, walking, and perhaps not a celebration at all - although it is easy to draw that conclusion, given the clear evidence of the Reckoning's end.

Rather than the optimistic determination of humankind, Roimata sees that the people in the parade are families, walking happily, and suggests that the adults could appear to be striking from work - she says that the people are not obviously celebrating or protesting anything, except for the simple fact of life, although she does highlight the irony that they are 'marching towards' a future that has no families in it.

Roimata strongly believes, though she cannot prove it, that this painting is a farewell from Claudia to her family and the concept of families in general, and though it was released in 1968, she believes it was painted much earlier. Although Claudia did not forget her family, she was removed from them, and retaught her childhood lessons by the Society and its teachers. Roimata ends her commentary on this piece by expressing - twice - that she likes it.

## The Arising

This painting has no central theme of destruction like the previous two; instead, it depicts the brand new childhood home in Kota Tua Jakarta, which was one of the first established. It was a street rebuilt from scratch, with low buildings and a grassy square a third of the way down. Children under the age of ten play with hoops and balls, read, or talk together, while caretakers watch. Roimata perceives a darkness to the innocence of the scene, and points out the stiff backs and almost featureless faces of the adults, asking if the listener feels a sense of tightly wound control.

Atieno had visited Kota Tua in the Dutch East Indies with her friend Cassandra Reza, who became a mutual friend of her and Roimata's, although it was possible Claudia did not know that. In Cassandra's studio in Nicosa, Roimata saw a painting very much like 'The Arising' while browsing, although it was distinctly different in atmosphere. In Cassandra's painting, there was no "ominous political subtext" where the caretakers stood "like prison bars" around the park; it was, instead, a celebration of new life, and Roimata compliments its beauty, saying that she hopes the world could see it one day, although she doubts Cassandra could prove that she painted her version first.

According to Roimata, everybody in Claudia's knew about her habits in this area, and the plagiarism of Reza's work was unsurprising. She speculates as to what Claudia would have said, or will say when she returns. She reminds herself to use the present tense, before ending her commentary abruptly.