Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton

MoMA PS1 presents a newly commissioned work made collaboratively by siblings Chuquimamani-Condori (Elysia Crampton Chuquimia, b. 1985, Inland Empire, CA) and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton (b. 1983, San Diego) in PS1’s double-height ground-floor gallery. Bringing together Indigenous Aymara cosmologies with queer and abolitionist thought, the work draws from a deeply personal narrative and incorporates multiple forms of intergenerational knowledge and exchange.

This immersive new work incorporates sound, music, and image, interlaced with personal stories from the artists’ mother, aunts, and grandparents in honor of their great great-grandparents, Francisco Tancara and Rosa Quiñones. Tancara and Quiñones were part of a movement that asserted the Aymara people’s legal land titles, built schools when native education was criminalized, and practiced freedom of religion—activities for which they were persecuted by the Catholic church and Bolivian state. By continuing the anti-colonial and anti-ecclesiastical labor of the artists’ elders, the multifaceted image and sound work articulates possibilities for an abolitionist Indigenous queer future. The centerpiece of the installation is a large-scale collage, weaving together a range of images that also serves as a model for a potential community mural in the town of Rosario, Ayllu Pahaza, Calacoto in the Pacajes province, where their family is from.

Chuquimamani-Condori is a Northern California-based artist and musician belonging to the Pakajaqi nation of Aymara people. They have recently presented work with NTS Radio London, Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, and Auto Italia, where they presented Amaru’s Tongue: Daughter (2021), a collaborative work with Joshua Chuquimia Crampton. They also work with AIM SoCal, the Southern California autonomous chapter of the American Indian Movement.

Joshua Chuquimia Crampton is a Northern California-based musician and artist belonging to the Pakajaqi nation of Aymara people. His recent musical releases include 4 (2021) and The Heart’s Wash (2020), a full-length project of solo guitar compositions. He also composed the score for Amaru’s Tongue: Daughter (2021). Recent presentations of his work have taken place at Haus der Kunst, Munich (2021) and Auto Italia, London (2021).