MALLKUANKA – Vuelo Surnorte De Colores translated as
The South/North Flight of Colors or
I Fly South to North with Colors is a mural by Aymara Bolivian artist and muralist Roberto Mamani Mamani. The mural is located in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along the Washington Avenue, on a building that is the home of the Philadelphia Animal Specialty and Emergency (PASE). The mural is a colorful, vivid depiction of the Bolivian and Philadelphia landscapes, and weaves together images of the Andean cosmovision (or worldview), Indigenous peoples, and animals from both South and North America. Bolivia and Philadelphia are joined together by the Pachamama, or Mother Earth, in the center, the condor and eagle at top, and other symbols that reflect and celebrate the Andean cosmovision. Mamani Mamani said in a public talk at the University of Pennsylvania that the mural shows the “encounter of cosmovisions,” and of “worlds, cities, [recognizing] in the end we share a continent and world and we share all of the concerns of the Pachamama or Mother Earth.” He brings the colors, symbols, and worldview of the Andes, but his mural also captures the same of Philadelphia, in terms of its animals and symbols in the area, explained Mamani Mamani. For example, the eagle and condor are “sacred beings of two culture, and when they encounter there will be more harmony.”
Of Aymara Indigenous descent, Roberto Mamani Mamani is a self-taught artist who has created countless paintings and murals and has participated in over 60 exhibitions worldwide.
The partners for this project include Mural Arts Philadelphia, Penn-Mellon Just-Futures Dispossessions in the Americas Initiative, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies.
This project is funded by Mural Arts Philadelphia and Mellon Foundation Just Futures Initiative grant N-2009-09221, entitled “Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from la Conquista to the Present.” The grant is administered by the University of Pennsylvania, coordinated by Principal Investigator Tulia G. Falleti, and with co-principal investigators Margaret Bruchac, Ricardo Castillo-Neyra, Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Michael Hanchard, Jonathan D. Katz, Richard M. Leventhal, and Michael Z. Levy.
