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Antonio Paniagua
Madrid
Sábado, 18 de enero 2025, 00:50
Instead of stone, the artist Feliza Bursztyn (Bogotá, 1933) used scrap metal and stainless steel to create her sculptures. Daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants and granddaughter of a man murdered by the Nazis, Bursztyn defied all moral and aesthetic norms. She left Colombia, abandoning an abusive husband and her daughters, to settle in Paris, where she lived with one of her great loves, the poet Jorge Gaitán Durán.
This decision led to her being ostracised by the Jewish community and estranged from a father who felt ashamed of his daughter's rebellion. Not coincidentally, he installed an empty coffin in his home as a symbol of the civil death to which he condemned Feliza. Over the years, the artist had to exile herself again in the French capital, where she died in 1982 during a dinner attended by García Márquez and his wife, Mercedes Barcha. In an obituary, Gabo wrote: "She died of sadness." Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez was fascinated by the life of this free, transgressive, and vital woman. The prose writer, whom some critics consider the literary heir of García Márquez in Colombian letters, has recreated her biography in 'The Names of Feliza' (Alfaguara).
–In your novel, you address the M-19's theft of Simón Bolívar's sword, which resembles a 'performance'. Does reality imitate art?
–It was their debut. The M-19 captivated the imagination of many in Colombia because they began with small actions that had symbolism and a certain mystery. Later, it degenerated into a structure that kidnapped and murdered; everything changed then. But with those actions, they became attractive to a country where the revolutionary left was already very much alive and active in many areas of society.
–You also mention André Breton, who was intrigued by the story of a jealous Colombian peasant who sewed his wife's vagina shut. Feliza Bursztyn made a pointed comment: "This guy hasn't understood anything."
–That incident speaks to the somewhat frivolous relationship that part of surrealism had with the real violence that engulfed many people, including in Latin America. What bothered Feliza was seeing that terrible and misogynistic act of violence—a man sewing his wife's vagina shut with barbed wire—and Breton viewing it as an interesting anecdote.
–Do you share the reflection attributed to Feliza Bursztyn that some art enthusiasts don't want museums, but mausoleums?
–I don't know what to say. I'm a great admirer of classical sculpture, I like the forms, but Feliza's proposal was clearly to break with a kind of dictatorship, not only from the point of view of forms but also the materials used. That's why she makes sculptures from scrap metal. That's also how art is made, by breaking with what came before.
–The life of the novel's protagonist is marked by exile.
–She ended her life at a political moment when Colombia was filled with those expelled for political reasons. Additionally, her parents were Polish Jews who visited Colombia to see a friend, and a few years later, in 1933, Hitler came to power, forcing them to stay to save their lives. Thus, Feliza's existence begins with one exile and ends with another.
–Europe is set to restrict the right of asylum, the very right that saved Feliza from persecution in Colombia and allowed her to reside in Paris. What do you think of this change?
–It is part of a wave of far-right policies slowly entering Europe, policies that are cheered on by a new xenophobia that is, to some extent, a fabrication. In the US, we have seen how the immigrant has become the number one enemy. Immigrants are accused of crimes and offences they have not committed. In reality, it is statistically proven that they are the least likely to break the law, but saying otherwise is politically very useful.
–How do you view Trump's second term?
–I am very worried. From Trump's first term, it was said that we shouldn't worry because he was a madman. But with that first presidency, there was a change in the way politics was conducted globally; the doors were opened for lies, bullying, rhetorical violence, even racism and misogyny, not only to not be problems but to become values for his voters.
–Now he already holds all the power.
–He owns both legislative chambers and the Supreme Court, and he is populating the main institutions of American life, the FBI and the ministries, with people whose only quality is loyalty. It is deeply concerning what he might do when all the checks and balances of American democracy have been removed. And now he also has the dangerously influential figure of Elon Musk. Trump has effectively created an open plutocracy.
–García Márquez was crucial in Feliza's life. Did you get to know him?
–Unfortunately, I met him very late, when his mind was no longer as sharp. I cannot say, to my regret, that I got to know him.
–Gabo wrote that Bursztyn died of sadness, but she was also exposed for many years to the toxic fumes emitted by welding scrap metal.
–Yes, of course, many things happened to her. García Márquez's statement is typical of a novelist, but there is actually a medical diagnosis behind Feliza's death that is slowly revealed in the novel. Both explanations are not mutually exclusive.
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