Restoring Links: exploring hospitality

This project has received grants from the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and the PUCP. It explores the effects that the performance of hospitality has on people, bringing memories and stories along with a sense of peace. Below you can see some screenshots from our videos of interventions with relatives of missing people (Ayacucho); descendants of Japanese migrants who reached the Peruvian jungle at the beginning of the 20th century (Madre de Dios); migrants arriving in Peru during last decade and members of host communities; and people living with HIV; a monk and a singer (Cusco).

In Ayacucho, we had tea ceremony sessions at the homes of women who shared their testimonies in interviews and songs about their relatives gone missing during the internal armed conflict of Peru (1980-2000). We also had a memorial performance at the ANFASEP (Association of Relatives of Missing and Abducted People) Museum, surrounded by items recovered from those missing. In this intervention, we also tried for the first time to drop fully the tea ceremony part and organised a lunch for the membership of ANFASEP with occasion of Women's Day. 

We also held a workshop about the project and methodologies with students of Huamanga University. In July 2023, there were two Accountability sessions with members of ANFASEP and the Ayacucho community.  Further, following the identified demands of local actors,  in November 2023, the team organised a video forum to screen the project's documentary and other visual projects produced in the area. The report of the forum is available here (Spanish)

#InternalArmedConflict

In Puerto Maldonado, we met and performed ceremonies with the members of the Japanese Peruvian-Association.  Since there has been integration with locals since their arriving in early 20th Century,  most of them have lost some traditions and surnames. Yet, they shared with us the feeling of belonging to a Japanese family and to a community that preserves values like trust, generosity and hospitality. They also shared stories of their grandparents, their experiences of going to their motherland, and their hopes for the future.  #migration

In Lima, we had a picnic with gay men living with HIV.   Outside our safe space, only some of them were open about their status, and all of them were involved in activism. We spend some time having conversations about: partners, sex practices, stigma, support groups, disclosing our status to our families and others, awareness raising,  and else.  #HIV #LGBT+

In Lima, we performed ceremonies and took part in events with the Roraima Symphonic Choir and Orchestra. This group —formed by Venezuelan Migrants and locals— shared with us their music, their histories of arriving Perú, adapting to a new life and contributing with their music to a better society #Migration

In Cusco, I met the Buddhist monk Tenkai, who moved to the city with his family after years of training in Japan. He teaches Zen meditation and ideas, integrating them with traditional cultures.  We shared a cup of tea at the Sacred Valley and let our hearts speak.   Back in Cusco, I met the singer  Gladys and her daughter,   we had a silent exchange of gestures.  #healing

Projects' Information

Name: Restoring Links: Exploring Hospitality

Grants: 2022 CAP PUCP, 2022 Experimental Film Award Peruvian DAFO Ministry of Culture; 2023 Social Responsibility Action PUCP

Timeframe: 1.09.2022  - 30.09.2023 (15.11.2023 for social responsibility actions)

Approved by PUCP Ethics Research Committee

Team: Javier Ormeño, Julio Mora

Articles mentioning the project:

- Ormeno, J. (2023) "Voices in Silence: towards a Somatic Language of Memory and Care" Kaylla: Revista del Departamento de Artes Escénicas, 2, 262-282.

-  Ormeno, J. (2023) “Reflections On Silence and Ritualised Hospitality” Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Volume 28, 2023 - Issue 1: Oral History Performance, Listening and Transitional Justice. Guest Editors: Luis Carlos Sotelo Castro and Toni Shapiro-Phim. 83-91

The film Restoring Links: Hospitality and Memory - Ayacucho is part of the official selection in the following festivals: New York Human Rights Film Festival 2023, FENACI 2023, Berlin Indie Film Festival 2024, Festival de Cinéma Péruvien de Paris 2024, 18° Muestra Cine+Video Indígena 2024 (Chile)

Conferences:

(2024) Proyecto Restaurando vínculos, Centro de Estudios Orientales PUCP, Lima, 19 April 

(2024) 10th Ocha Zanmai, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, July date TBA

(2024) Exploraciones de hospitalidad: la ceremonia de té como herramienta de justicia transicional, Segundo Coloquio Internacional de Estudios de Arte y Cultura Iberoamérica-Japón, Centro Nacional de las Artes, Ciudad de México, 28 - 30 de agosto.

(2024) Hospitality and Memory 8th Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association, 'Memories in Transit', Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, 8-20 July 2024