Juan David Latorre
Last Friday, the Embassy of Paraguay presented at the Museum of America the photographic exhibition Jasy Kañy/Luna escondida (Jasy Kañy/Hidden Moon), by Fernando Allen, which will be on display until 29 September.
The opening ceremony was opened by Andrés Gutiérrez Usillos, director of the Museum of America, who highlighted the “efforts of the members of the Embassy of Paraguay” for the presentation of this exhibition.
Then, in the presence of the Minister for Women of the Republic of Paraguay, Cynthia Figueredo, the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Paraguayan delegation, Liz Coronel, took the floor. On 14 and 15 May we remember in Paraguay our emancipation as a nation,” she said. A deed that occurred without bloodshed and that did not dissolve the deep and strong ties that united us even then with Spain, as a Spanish diplomat pointed out in an official report in 1846, when he said: ‘In Paraguay the memory of the Spanish origin is proudly flaunted, it is cited as a national glory to preserve the purity of the language and customs of their grandparents'”.
We are a proudly mestizo country,” continued Liz Coronel, “born of the early Hispanic-Guarani amalgam that has left a double richness in our culture. The great Hispanic heritage and our ancestral roots of the Guaraní mothers, which are clearly reflected in our two official languages: Spanish and Guaraní, as well as in the syncretism of our popular festivities, our handicrafts, our typical dress, our music and our customs in general”.
Referring in particular to the symbolism of the exhibition, the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. It is difficult to synthesise the Paraguayan ‘universe’ in words, so we have preferred to speak through images, with the voice and the gaze of a great master of photography, Fernando Allen, who through the magic of the image transports us to these festivities, to hidden landscapes, to ancestral rituals, to ancient vestiges…; treasures hidden behind the mysterious name of Jasy Kañy – Hidden Moon, which promises to reveal intimate secrets of Paraguay to those who visit the exhibition”.
Liz Coronel also announced that on Thursday 16 May at 5 p.m. at the Museum of America, a tribute will be paid to the great master of the classical guitar Agustín Pío Barrios – Mangoré, with the screening of the film Mangoré, por amor al arte (Mangoré, for the love of art).
