The El Durazno I & II

(2022)

Multichannel installation. Two projections on build
walls, and text on flat screen

4’50’’

–Is it true that there is a city underneath here?
–It was a village —Cesar took a pause and continued— Do you see that mountain over there? The village that is on top of it used to be here, just under this boat. It was called El Durazno.

My parents are from here, they told me about the thin stream of fresh water that bathed the kids and the crops in our valley. We did not see it coming when the state decided to make a dam in the river. Walls and gates for the dam were built when people were still living here. The land was sold cheap, and everyone had to leave. The cemetery, the church, the houses... everything was left behind.

–I heard that the bell tower from the church can be seen in times of drought when the water of the dam goes down.

–No! —He quickly interrupted— Those are just tales. Nothing remains. The houses were made out of adobe so they didn’t stand the water. The village on the hill came after that, and even though on the maps and everywhere it appears like El Durazno, people from this area call it El Durazno II, because after sixty years we still remember.

And we moved through dense layers of future, yet the flavor in the mouth remains as familiar and undefinable as the words we haven’t said.