Interlude – Cecilia Vicuña (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Cecilia Vicuña is also a (translated) poet. A selection of her collections is included in the below Reference section. 

Initially printed as regular 9x6 formatted books, Vicuña's subsequent poetry hybridized art and print.  Thread and word (see image), where pages are folded, tied together with thread, and untied for consultation. Or, where pages are perforated, and held together with threads. 

Vicuña's thread  poetry expresses her almost archeological connection to quipus, the ancient Andean system of knots (quipu in Quechua), used for record-keeping (of payment, inventories, criminal trials, census data, calendars, routes, and rituals). A coherent, pre-Columbian recording-keeping system, until quipus were destroyed, in the 14th century, and quipu masters became persecuted. For Vicuña, however, the ancient knots, with loose end threads, beckon completion, which she has explored, and expertly appropriated in her art and poetry.

Above, the image of a page, translated to English, from Palabra e hilo – Word and thread. Below, the image of a poem that reads los hilos / se hacen palabras ("threads / becoming words"). Part print, part loose end thread, the poem reconnects with, and delicately recreates ancient quipus, which also spoke stories, albeit utilitarian, record-keeping, stories. 

References 

Cecilia Vicuña (poetry)

http://www.ceciliavicuna.com/poetry 

Selected works of poetry

Vicuña, C. (1973). Saborami. Cullompton, UK: Beau Geste Press.
----- (1979). Siete poemas. Bogotá, Columbia: Centro Colombo Americano.
----- (1983). Precario – Precarious. New York NY: Tanam Press.

----- (1984). PALABRARmas. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones El Imaginero.
----- (1986). Samara. Valle del Cauca, Colombia: Ediciones Embalaje del Museo Rayo.
----- (1990). La Wik’uña. Santiago, Chile: Francisco Zegers Editor.
----- (1992). Unraveling Words & the Weaving of Water. Translated by Eliot Weinberger and Suzanne Jill Levine. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press.
----- (1994). La realidad es una línea. Kortrijk, Belgium: Kanaal Art Foundation.
Vicuna, C. & E. Morgan. (1994). PALABRARmas/WURWAPPINschaw. Edinburgh, Scotland: Morning Star Publications.
----- (1996). Word & Thread. Translated by Rosa Alcalá . Edinburgh, Scotland: Morning Star Publications.
----- (1997). The Precarious: The Art & Poetry of Cecilia Vicuña/ QUIPOem. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
----- (1999). cloud-net. New York. NY: Art in General.

----- (2002). Instan. Berkeley, CA: Kelsey St. Press. 
----- (2004). I tu. Buenos Aires: Argentina: Tsé-Tsé.
----- (2005). Palabrarmas. Santiago, Chile: RIL Editores.
----- (2007). Sabor A Mí. Santiago, Chili: Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales.
----- (2011). Soy Yos: Antología, 1996-2006. Santiago, Chile: Lom Ediciones.
----- (2011). Saborami. Philadelphia, PA: ChainLinks.
----- (2012). Chanccani Quipu. New York, NY: Granary Books.