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Sharing a cup of tea, retrieving memories/oral history, building bridges and restoring links among people
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
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://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
Hospitality is the act of being friendly and welcoming to guests and visitors, offering a person a home away from home. It usually implies a series of procedures that regulate encounters and how people develop a rapport.
Find out more information in our awarded project bellow, There is more information accessing our Archive and Social Engagement and Accountability in the links.
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:
(2025) "Voicing objects: Tea gatherings with Peruvian State Agents in the aftermath of the Internal Armed Conflict” 9th Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association, 'Beyond Crises: Resilience and (In)stability', Prague, 14-18 July
(2025) "On being there: sharing a cup of tea as a methodology for justice and recovering of memory in Peru" Latin America Studies Association 2025 Hybrid Congress: Poner el cuerpo en Latinx América taking, San Francisco, USA, 23-16 May
(2024) 10th Ocha Zanmai, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, December
(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 August.
(2024) Hospitality and Memory 8th Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association, 'Memories in Transit', Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, 18-20 July 2024
(2024) La ceremonia de té japonesa como instrumento para la memoria y la paz, Jornada Internacional de Estudios Japoneses, PUCP, Lima, junio.
(2024) Proyecto Restaurando vínculos, Centro de Estudios Orientales PUCP, Lima, 19 April