Restoring Links

Javier Ormeno

Installation  

2023 NOS PUCP, Lima, Peru.

In a high transit area of a cultural centre, public will listen to tender songs by victims of armed conflict and are invited to take some fruit and tea. While approaching to wall they would read the translations of the songs that depict terrible stories of abduction.

Suitcases and boxes used by Venezuelan and Peruvian migrants, tea, fruits, audio recordings of songs in indigenous language.

Conversation with a monk

Javier Ormeno - Diego Tenkai

Performance 

November 2023 

Sacred Valley, Cusco, Peru.

The monk Tenkai, trained in Soto-Zen in Kyoto, accepted an invitation to drinking a cup of tea. The conversation brought memories of distant lands, understanding diverse traditions and learning through repetition... and candid smiles.

Japanese outfit, tea tools and traveling box, and sweets

Hospitality and Migration

Julio Mora (director) and Javier Ormeno (performer)

Video (15 min.) 

2023

Puerto Maldonado, Peruvian Jungle

Register from tea gatherings with descendants of Japanese migrants arriving in Peruvian jungles in early 20th century, this was possible after months of coordination and getting acquainted with the Japanese Peruvian Association. This association has less resources and visibility than the one in the capital city. Descendants here are ethnically more mixed and open. The names, faces and uses of the people may look different from their ancestors but they continue valuing their tradition of work ethics, respect to the elders, and a sense of community.

Traditional Peruvian blanket, Japanese outfit, tea tools and traveling box, Peruvian candies

This video is part of the Restoring Links Project: https://project-explorations.pucp.edu.pe/projects/explorations-of-hospitality/restoring-links-exploration-of-hospitality

No See, No listen, No speak

Javier Ormeno

Performance 

August 2023 

Lima, Peru.

In Lima, we had a picnic with LGBTQI+ people 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.

Japanese outfit, tea tools, a 3-monkeys futaoki and sweets

Remembering the Missing

Javier Ormeno

Performance 

March 2023 

ANFASEP Museum, Ayacucho, Peru.

Tea ceremony to remember people gone missing during internal armed conflict in Peru. 

Clothes of missing people retrieved from relatives or unnamed tombs, photos, candles, tea tools.

Hospitality and Memory

Julio Mora (director) and Javier Ormeno (performer)

Video (30 min.) 

2023

Huamanga, Ayacucho, Peru

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

Japanese outfit, tea tools and traveling box, Peruvian sweets

https://youtu.be/90J3IwYv36c 

This video is part of the Restoring Links Project: https://project-explorations.pucp.edu.pe/projects/explorations-of-hospitality/restoring-links-exploration-of-hospitality

Tea for Memory: records of a performance at La Hoyada

Julio Mora (director) and Javier Ormeno (performer)

Video (10 mins.)

2021

La Hoyada Memorial Site, Ayacucho, Peru

With members of the Peruvian association of relatives of abducted, missing and killed people (ANFASEP), we organized a tea ceremony in Ayacucho, the most affected department in Peru during internal armed conflict 1980-2000. At request of their governing board, the tea ceremony was held on a lot used as clandestine burial grounds by the army. This place is considered sacred by the association, because the soil, the trees and bushes listened to the final whereabouts of their relatives who, 40 years later, are still missing. 

Japanese and Peruvian traditional outfits, tea, Peruvian desserts, tea tools, flowers, incense. 

Official Selection of The Film Festival for Democratic Memory (Spain), 2021 Official Selection of the Trujillo Film Festival, 2021 Muestra de Cine de los Pueblos Indígenas (Colombia), 13e Festival de Cinéma Péruvien de Paris (France) 2022, 2023 Knowmad Film Festival (Germany), Muestra Cine + Vídeo Indígena 2023 (Chile)

https://youtu.be/H_HSt3G3A0Q

https://project-explorations.pucp.edu.pe/projects/explorations-of-hospitality/tea-for-memory

Tea for Peace at LUM

Julio Mora (director), Javier Ormeno (performer) and Ana Correa (guest)

Video (5 mins.)

2020

Lugar de la Memoria, Lima, Peru

The first test of the project was carried out in Lima, the capital city, where there is a Memorial museum (Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social LUM ) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our guest was Ana Correa, a teacher, performer and advocate for rights, member of the group Yuyachkani.  https://vimeo.com/497771595