Amérika: Bahía de las Flechas

Cuenta la leyenda que cinco siglos atrás el cielo se tiño de gris.

"The West is not in the West. It is a project, not a place."


Edouard Glissant, Caribbean Discourse

 

Over five centuries ago, the sky turned grey, as a rain of arrows followed the arrival of the Spaniards to Lago Enriquillo; this is the location where Ana Vaz shot Amérika: Bay of Arrows (2016). A major water reserve located in the Dominican Republic, Lake Enriquillo witnessed the first encounter between the Caribbean Taíno and Spanish explorers more than five centuries ago. Amérika immerses the viewer in this environment as the camera, through its constant movement, shapes and propels the narrative. Vaz makes use of this device as if the camera were an extension of her body. Thus, in Amérika, the camera is not an invisible apparatus, as its hypnotic, circular motion mimics the role of an active, even wild participant. Similar to the indigenous myth of the feathered serpent that descends once a year from the sky to the earth, the film’s rotating shots can also be read as a reference to the cyclical relationship between the sky and the earth.

 

Through this unusual technique, Vaz produces a disorienting lens through which the viewer sees this historical place, not from a remote place, but constantly aware of the narrative’s construction. Amérika represents one of Vaz’s more decisive attempts to convey how the camera can both rupture and structure narrative forms.

 

Vaz’s research is driven by an inquiry into the historical and anthropological routes of colonialism, and what impact this legacy may have on the natural evolution of the earth. Within this expansive set of concerns, she zeros in on the clash of two cultures, Europe and the Americas, and investigates its profound historical implications in contemporary life, commonly referred to today as the age of the Anthropocene. Referring to the point in history from which human activities have intervened in the Earth’s geology and ecosystems, Vaz considers where the beginning of this age can be located in relation to the clash of cultures. Though not visible in the film, one must imagine the substantial amount of Taíno artifacts lying beneath the surface of Lake Enriquillo, pointing to the always present yet invisible temporal overlaps between historical and geological time.

 

Statement of Carla Luccini, New York, 2016.