Layqa Nuna Yawar’s Story: Experiencing Art and Life during the Pandemic

Layqa Nuna Yawar, Pandemic Oral History Project, Archives of American Art, 2020

Interviewer: Fernanda Espinosa

Interviewee: Layqa Nuna Yawar

Interview Date: August 18, 2020

Interview Length: 24 minutes, 12 seconds

 

Visual:

Fernanda Espinosa and Layqua Espinosa are in their apartments on a Zoom call.

 

Fernanda Espinosa:

Hello, Layqa. Thank you for joining me for this interview. Today is August 18 of 2020, and this is Fernanda Espinosa interviewing, artist Layqa Nuna Yawar for the Pandemic Project at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Welcome, Layqa. Can you just introduce yourself and also tell me how you're doing?

 

Layqa Nuna Yawar:

Thank you for inviting me. My name is Layqa Nuna Yawar. I am an immigrant artist, born as Lenny Correa en Ecuador, Sur América. I am part of diaspora Andina, and I live in the U.S., and I make murals and visual art, and public artwork based around the idea of organizing people of color to amplify our messages on a large scale. And I am doing well. I have been drinking my coffee, and I'm excited to talk to you. Thank you for the invitation.

 

Espinosa:

Awesome. I'm also drinking my coffee since it's morning. And as I mentioned, we’d like to know more about how artists have been experiencing all of these changes, in these last few months. Can you just start by telling me a little bit more about your experience, personal and as an artist, over these past few months?

 

Yawar:

Okay. When al principio, I was in Ecuador. I'd just come back from Ecuador, to the Estados Unidos, when the pandemic started to, like, really take hold of the U.S. So, when I stopped being able to go outside and had to sort of rethink everything in life, it sort of made me feel super depressed and confused, y al mismo tiempo aca en Estados Unidos, leadership has not been present, so it was a big mess. Creatively, no podía hacer nada, because I make art on the outside. I make art based on being with people and connecting to people. And so, from that point on, I could not longer do that, and I could not see a future for me doing anything else like that.

Entonces, I didn't know what was going to happen to my practice or… I was very insecure in the future. But as I went through that grief y todo pasó, I started to understand more of the causes of the pandemic, like what comes after myself. I started to, listen to myself, and again, I found la respuesta and actually making art. Because that's how I survive. And it's what's helped me just live through migration and through my own complexes and my own fears. So making artwork is what helped me get through it. And then, slowly started making more artwork and finding the ways of thinking about what it means to be an artist en un tiempo de pandemia.

I started sort of slowing down myself y estoy trabajando con a new speed. I no longer… I want to get rid of this pressure of capitalism, or the idea of producing. And I've been trying to for a long time, pero ahora es mas fácil because I think a lot — making art, and having any sort of interaction right now is more meaningful or more focused. Porque it takes a lot even to go out. You know, we no longer can go and watch a movie, because you could get sick.

So, what does it mean for me to actually go out and make a project and make a mural? And who am I going to interact with? And how important is that? So, just brought in another level of sort of importance to making artwork. El mismo tiempo, in the middle of fear and know what that looks like. It's been a few months, and I feel like we're just at the beginning of this curve. I see this going on for the foreseeable future. At least three years or something like that. No se. But it's been like kind of like a curve, and I think we're just seeing the ramifications of it. So, it's been that.

 

Espinosa:

When you started making art again after feeling what you described, feeling low for some time. What kind of things did you start working on?

 

Yawar:

So, al principio, I was not really sure how to frame my artwork, because I was unable to interact with people. But that was just the internal, immediate response. Because I still could connect to people through, you know, what we're doing right now, which is Zoom, or talking on the phone, or just being part of a community. And I think what was great about that is, by me reaching out to community, I was also able to be healed by community. So, I started working with different organizations and just offered them art for what they needed. So, I started working for an organization in Newark called Ironbound Community Corporation. They needed some posters, and I reached out to Make the Road of New York, and New Jersey, and I would be working on different projects.

And so, that allowed me to kind of create again. And before the larger-scale murals and all the time that it took for me to create educational projects and do the teaching and do the painting. All that was out of the way. So, I could sort of rethink that approach through the internet, or on paper. And so, that helped me out. And the same time, I started doing como un proyecto que estoy haciendo ahora. That's based on my own family's immigrant narrative from Ecuador to Estados Unidos and I'm doing that in a virtual reality space.

So, I'm working with 3D graphics, and I took this time to sort of teach myself a lot of new programs, and also started playing with clay, and just some different ways of challenging myself. And that helped me out a lot. Porque el mismo tiempo was kind of like mi terapia to make things and create art. And then, I started growing plants a lot more, because I think it reminded me of doing that with my mom when I was a kid.

O al mismo tiempo I feel like I am centered and more calm when I'm close to the earth and to mountains. And I just really enjoy putting plants in the ground and making them grow and taking care of them. I think that was also just me taking care of myself through that. And I don't like to separate the art from my life, because I did that for a long time.

So, I just see all of this as the creative process. And another thing that I did was sort of figure out how to be in the outside more. So, I bought a bicycle, and I go out more. I try to be careful, because I think what we're lacking right now in these social distancing times is the idea of community or interacting with people. Como ver a tu familia o amistades. It just becomes something that we have to try to do more. So, yeah, that.

 

Espinosa:

I did mention this before, but you are in your studio in Newark, and I know you've been based in Newark for some time. Can you talk a little bit more about how your community, whoever you call your community, and you have met these new times, both the pandemic, but also all the changes and the consequences of what's been happening?

 

Yawar:

Yeah, I think we're just the beginning of the changes or, again, that curve of change. I found it super interesting that we were all isolated for months, and then the first time I was able to see the Newark community was when we went all out to protest George Floyd's murder. And it was a beautiful, interesting environment of community, being policed at the same time. And having drones fly around and you know, standing up against oppression, and doing so with your friends and your community and people you haven't physically seen for so long. That was wonderful moment. And I think Newark's continued to rise up to the moment and react in a very progressive way.

For example, one night, I was invited to witness the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue in the city, which was an act from City Hall. And there were community members there, and they were burning palo santo, and it was like a beautiful drum circle. And people came out in middle of the night. And so, that was a moment of community. That was being pushed by governance, right? So, there's this interesting in-between right now, and I feel very lucky to be in a city where I can work with my friends and community members with the things I believe in, and also do that as an artist, because I was also able to help, along with like a 150 other artists and organizers to do a ground mural that said, "Abolish white supremacy," and "All Black lives matter." Again, like, a wonderful action of community.

And now, I'm working on different murals that we're developing. So, that's been super healing, and I think we only see a few examples of that in the U.S. I feel pretty blessed about it. So, I'm trying again to sort of be aware of that, and also think about como cual es el futuro de esto, how can we keep growing, and how can we push that curve upward and continue? So, yeah, I think we're just at the beginning of that, and it feels like, out of all the anxiety and, you know, this super horrible place that we're in, that chaos moment can also allow us to have some hope and to push for what we believe in. So, yeah, I've been kind of hopeful about it.

 

Espinosa:

The people that you've been going out with for the protest, and that you've been working with, and just that larger community, what kind of conversations have you been having in these times?

 

Yawar:

There's been a lot of conversations what to do next. I've had conversations about actions that are not sanctioned, about immediate protest, about long-term change, about just private change. I've had conversations about how to support each other through business and money. I've had conversations about how to support ourselves as artists. We've had conversations about how to creatively answer the moment, work with its collaborators on kind of reframing how to interact and do this. Like, become this Zoom sort of cultural hive. And within all of those conversations, I think I'm super blessed that it's all been about looking forward.

And my immediate community is super aware of what the problems are, because I believe that Newark, being a Black city and Brown city, it knows that the most powerful part of change is to envision future, as opposed to staying in the moment of pain, which is something that the artists here and I do with my art myself, which is not, for example, show oppression, but show what could come after oppression. And I feel like that's the vibe and idea that I get from talking to people in Newark. And I feel super, super — again, hopeful and happy that that's where I'm at and what we're doing. Yeah. And these are very interesting questions, thank you.

 

Espinosa:

Thank you. I’m enjoying our conversation. And it also makes me think about the things we imagine in the future. In that context, where do you see your work going in the future? Or, what role do you think it will play?

 

Yawar:

So, that's interesting, because a lot of what I was doing before was working with institutions like universities or schools, pero todo, eso es como up in the air right now, right? Like the whole model's changing. Schools — there are some that are not opening, others are opening somehow. So I'm still not sure how to tackle those opportunities, or my planned projects as far as engaging with people. I mean, the easy answer is to have workshops and muralism through Zoom, but that's not ideal to me.

And also, how can you produce a physical mural if people cannot come together? All of that right now, it's up in the air for me. So, I'm to trying to start to envision that future. And I think about different ways of doing this. And right now, I don't have a solid answer, but I have a few ideas. Como por ejemplo, how does — how can we arrive at — as a group of people, how can we arrive at consensus, and what does agency mean when you're creating together? Does that mean voting on designs? Does that mean giving someone agency to make those decisions? Does that mean picking one part of the community or one person in the community to represent the rest?

It could be. I might just get into a lot of trouble, and people will have hurt feelings. So, I don't know what that's going to look like. But so far, that's where I'm at. I'm trying different projects with different ideas, and we'll see where that goes. Other than that, I think I, from a personal career or, survival as an artist, I have to also challenge myself. And figure out different ways of one, because we're living hell as a country, how to survive within that system, how to understand the new system, and how to properly sustain a practice, right?

And there's a lot of institutions out there right now that are trying to help artists, so I'm taking advantage of that. I'm seeing myself as a business, as well. So, I'm trying to push towards that and how to take advantage of those systems. Whereas before, I wasn't doing that so much, because I could survive as one way of being an artist, but now I have to think in different ways of doing that. And then, that just allows me to sort of make the art that I want to make. And I think right now, what I have a lot more of is time and space to sort of make art that's more private and more about myself, because I have a sort of mental space, right? And not that I don't enjoy making work with community; that's sort of what feeds me, but it's also allowing me to do both. So, I think that's where the trajectory of my artwork is going. To be more sustainable, to fit into the new system, and also to make more space for my personal voice, because that's just going to help me grow as a public artist, as well.

And it's been interesting to allow myself to do that, because it feels like growing plants again. Like all those projects and my art itself is the plant that I'm trying to grow from, you know, where we've been left. So it's, again, a very hopeful moment for me.

 

Espinosa:

Have you been doing any personal work to document or mark these times?

 

Yawar:

Not so much to mark the times. I think the work that I'm making is a result, but it's not speaking to that. Like I said, having a lot of time to think about my family, and I've been reading about, a lot about, castas, and I've been doing all this research, which is guided by my experience, but not because of the pandemic. Not guided by the pandemic as a theme. But it's just allowing me to research and kind of create work about the things that maybe I wouldn't have had time to do before because I got busy. But not in relation to the pandemic, per se. So maybe the work that I'm doing con organizaciones and for example, The City of Newark, that is related to the pandemic. It's related to the moment; it's a reaction to the political realities of it. So then, that side of my work is totally related, but the personal, not so much.

 

Espinosa:

Thank you so much. Before I end our recording, I would like to ask you if there's anything that I didn't bring up that you would like to document in this interview.

 

Yawar:

I think what happens, what I've been enjoying and seeing a lot more of, is the engagement from youth, and our current TikTok generation. I am super impressed and elated by what I'm seeing, and I think we should find space for that and celebrate it. The next generation is not apathetic. They're doing a lot, and, you know, that just fills me up. That's it.

 

Espinosa:

All right. Thank you so much.

 

Yawar:

Thank you. Bye.

 

Espinosa:

Bye.