Cecilia Vicuña discusses three poem sequences sang for the earth in indigenous North and South America. In this performance talk, Vicuña illustrates how oral traditions in Chile, Paraguay, and Arizona continue renewing themselves as individual/collective practices in the 21st century.

This event is presented with generous support from the Battery Park City Authority.

Performance in Kray Hall followed by a reception in the Viscusi Reading Room.

About the Poet:

Cecilia Vicuña is a poet, artist, activist and filmmaker whose work addresses pressing concerns of the modern world, including ecological destruction, human rights, and cultural homogenization. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, she has been in exile since the early 1970s, after the military coup against the president Salvador Allende. In London, she was a co-founder of Artists for Democracy in l974. Vicuña was the winner of the 2023 Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas 2023, one of the most prestigious awards given by her homeland. Preceding this recognition, Vicuña was elected a foreign honorary member of the United States Academy of Arts and Letters and also received the Gold Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2022 at the 59th Venice Biennale. The author of more than 30 volumes of art and poetry published in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, her most recent books are: PALABRARmas (2023); Word Weapons (2023);  and Libro Venado (2022), among many others. Photo by Bruno Savelli.