Rafael Berrio is a child of the Colombian Caribbean regions of Barranquilla and Santa Maria in the North of South America.
In this stunning landscape birthplace of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realism, you will find warm Caribbean currents caressing white beaches. A walk further inland will take you to the imposing tropical Sierra Nevada Mountains and beyond to paradise-like countryside harbouring abundant crops such as mango, coffee, sugar, rice and bananas.
There is potential for infinitely joyful livelihoods here. However, the remarkable beauty of this region and the persistent joie-de-vivre of its peoples is in direct contrast to the long and painful conflicts, which have marked Colombian peoples for decades, over and beyond the ravages of Spanish colonialism.
Whilst environmental resources are abundant in this land of plenty, severe inequality has spawned the cocaine trade and resultant which is ever present. The fall-out on local peoples is extreme, in particular indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian communities –where Rafael Berrio has his roots-have been severely disadvantaged and face continuous struggle in safe guarding their living spaces and cultural values.
More than 70% of the 10.5 Afro-Colombians subsist below the minimum wage . Most poignantly, all civilians find themselves to be the fodder for armed groups , in particular paramilitaries , seeking land grabs. Thus many Colombians have found themselves abroad-more easily in neighbouring countries such as Venezuela and Ecuador. Rafael’s family in search for peace and harmony , like many of us ventured abroad but always sought to preserve their heritage and love of their origins
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The inspiration for his varied work thus comes from a deep sense of ethics and love of nature, as well as the compelling need to express a renewed sense of identity by tracing life-histories backwards and forwards in time. His creative energies have developed gradually as he grew up in Colombia and Venezuela and then relocated to Spain and the UK. In this sense they are intimately linked to a sense of place and geography as well as culture. At the ‘Folk Segovia’ event in Segovia, Spain in 1995, tree-like sculptures sought to inspire reflection on both African culture and Ecology. His paintings have expressed The joy and urgency of connection amongst different peoples In particular the connections he has felt link the seas to different Cultures and moods.
Berrio’s sculptures are moving in that they speak of deep human archetypes with parallels in both Africa and the Americas. Rafael’s home-base now being in the UK, his more recent work has also tended to incorporate the spiritual echoes of these more Northern regions through his use of local materials, thus actualising a dialogue with local ecological problems. This was the theme in the exhibition of sculpture and constructions : Faces of Nature, which was first, staged at the University of Sussex in 2002’ and which formed part of the creativity and cultural diversity conference precedings. As this indicated, Rafael Berrio also wishes his artistic manifestations to open up new spaces of feeling and knowledge which enable the artifices of the urban/rural divide to be re-conceptualised by Britain’s multi-cultural society.
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It is in these ways that this Sculptor, through his work, has come to bring a greater understanding to others who have had to endure forced migrations and witnessed the ravages of their ancestral lands. But I think his work also speaks, more widely to any of us who are working towards a world which espouses greater equality, environmental responsibility and which celebrates diversity. In particular, where diversity rather than creating division, can be a force for building bridges enhancing redefined identities and loving encounters amongst peoples – a richer kaleidoscope understanding of the purpose and joy which should encompass our everyday lives with and within nature. Beyond this, Rafael Berrio’s contribution is an essential chapter in the contributions that the ethnic minority citizen’s have made to culture in the UK – following, as it does, in the trail opened up by other sculptors from ethnic minorities such as Anish Kapoor, Chris Ophili and Ronald Moody. Berrio’s work is therefore a vital experience – an imperative expression of an all-inclusive world, which is not beyond our reach
Glory Rigueros Saavedra,
PhD Rural Sociology Imperial College, University of London
View Rafael Barrio CV
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