To Keep Watch

About the Project

To Keep Watch is a retelling of the myth El Cacique Calarcá (The Chief Calarcá) where a Pi’pyshavy Cacique, Kalarcá, famously resisted the Spanish conquistadors in the Northern Andes. His death refuting all forms of colonization is what became mythologized though he's said to still inhabit the mountains through different forms.

There are two versions of Karlacá's death, a factual version and a folkloric version:

1. In the former, He is killed by Spanish Conquistador Diego De Ospina during a failed ambush on a Spanish fort. This version is confirmed by letters sent from Diego De Ospina to the Spanish Crown about the ambush.
2. In the latter, He is killed by another chief in an act of vengeance and with the support of the President of Kingdom of Granada (Old name for Colombia), Don Juan De Borja. This version came about centuries afterward and its origins or intentions are unknown.
   About the Project

The visual-auditory project features important objects from the story rendered to flesh out the world with narration underneath to move the story forward, looking at what a digitized version of 'oral storytelling' could be. It weaves together the two versions of the Kalarcá's death together to create a cohesive message on different perspectives on resistance and survival, and the uncertainty of history. To Keep Watch also revises elements of both stories that felt like they were added by the 'victors' in order to justify Kalarcá's death and colonization (e.g removing unconfirmed mentions of cannibalism).

View the Project Here

Credits

Code, Art and Story by Kevin Cadena Rincon
Narration and Editting By Chantal Feitosa-DeSouza
Built using a customized theme of Reveal.JS, Art made using Aesprite