Surprise on the banks of the Paraná: overnight, the stations of the Way of the Cross appeared carved in the sand – 18/04/2019

Overnight The stations of Via Crucis appeared carved in the sand on the banks of the mighty Paraná River, the work of ten sculptors from Latin America and Europe attracting pbadionate and curious in this Holy Week.

The organizers and the artists have chosen the beaches of Carmen del Paraná, in Paraguay, 350 km southeast of Asunción and near the border with Argentina, in order to attract the attention of the border population.

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"We wanted to take advantage of the mbadive escape of the urban population to the countryside during these holidays for show what these artists are capable of doing with sand"said businessman Ramón Acuña, a construction engineer who financed the initiative.

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They are Italian, Portuguese, Uruguayan, Paraguayan, Bolivian, Colombian, Brazilian, Salvadoran and Peruvian sculptors, real globe-trotters used to traveling "where they call us" to make their work known.

"In Holy Week, as usual, the religious devotion and tourism they are confused Everyone goes out with family to the interior of the country because of the ideal climate in April, "said Acuña, who thought that these outdoor sculptures would arouse the admiration of tourists and locals alike.

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"The sand has the grace that it is ephemeral. The important thing is the process, not the final work. It's not like you're working in the shop and then selling it. Here, we are in constant contact with the public, "explained Juan Manuel Espinoza, from La Paz.

A villager warned that one of the fingers of the hand of Pontius Pilate that he had carved for the first station, that of the allegory of washing the Roman chef's wash, seemed a little bigger than the others. "Well, he was right, I corrected it," he says.

"Anyone can point out something that is fine or that seems to be poorly heard by an expert and even by someone who does not know anything," he said, pleased with the news. ;interaction.

Francisco Méndez, Salvadoran, says that with sculpture, he earns his living all year long. "In Latin America, it is not widespread, it is well known in Europe, one can win 25 000 euros in a contest, it is a salary for the whole year", did he declare.

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Fernando Paz, of Nariño, Colombia, is an autodidact and says that for seven years, he shares this type of art with his expertise to make carnival floats, plastic arts and body time in his country.

While speaking, he retouches the very expressive eyes of the Mother in tears Mary during the meeting with her son, in the fourth season.

"It's the first time I work on Via Crucis, I love sculptures on human figures and realism," exclaimed Italian Elisa Sordelli of Pisa, commenting his work on the eleventh station, that of Jesus nailed to the Cross.

She is accompanied by Fanny Vieira from Lisbon. "This country that you have, very red, very clay, is excellent, you can make giant figures, it sticks very well," he said.

It is about the arena that the Jesuits used to build their great mission temples.

Carmen del Paraná is located on the "Jesuit Way" amidst the so-called "Jesuit ruins" of the 17th and 18th centuries, epoch of the splendor of some 60 reductions of Indians scattered in the present territories of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Peruvian Rubén Rebatta, coordinator of the group, with 14 years of experience in the beach sand, ensures that the numbers they leave in Paraguay "can last for months if they take care of it, they can take a varnish and they last a long time.

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"It looks a lot like the clay city of Chan Chán," Incas, he said.

Gisselle García, a graduate in fine arts and after five years working on the beaches of Punta del Este, Uruguay, stresses that the country of Paraguay resembles that of Uruguayan. "But with this arena, you can make giant sculptures," he says.

AFP