Paper short abstract:

Through my experience as an artist, creating from the coexistence with nature and cultures integrated to nature, I propose a reflection about the importance to decolonize the artistic process revaluing diverse artistic expressions so that climate change messages can transcend through art.

Paper long abstract:

Generally, we conceive art as universal, but its function emerged from Western culture, from where it was exported to the world. Bruno Latour calls for a collaboration between art and science, however, art does not always achieve public awareness. I suggest this is because artists have taken the narrative of the researcher that 'explores' as an observer, based on scientific evidence or from experiences of the built environment. We need a more interpretivist approach, to break the verticality of art, like in the expressions of animist cultures, supported in belief systems and lived experience in nature. Twenty years ago, I began to decolonize my process, creating from the coexistence with nature and cultures integrated to nature; a creative process I have named Integracionismo (Integrationism). I learned to listen and detach from previous concepts. When this is achieved, there is an unsuspected force producing a message that is often transgressive and politically uncomfortable, contradictory to the interests of the system. In my last two exhibitions in Lima, despite the institutional and scientific support, 'authoritative' voices and animal rights groups arbitrarily denied the intention of my work because of their distance, generating great controversy. In this paper I reflect on my experience proposing the need to decolonize art and revalue different artistic expressions for the message of climate change to transcend.