Global InformationLasTesis information
LASTESIS (styled all in capital letters) are a Chilean interdisciplinary, intersectional and trans-inclusive feminist collective, whose members are Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem, Daffne Valdés Vargas and Paula Cometa Stange.[1] Sotomayor and Valdés are from a theater background, while Cometa from a background in design and history.[2][3] The collective’s name embodies the group's interest in promoting the tesis (theses) of important feminist thinkers, such as Silvia Federici and Rita Segato,[4] in their performances.[5] LASTESIS direct their performances toward institutionalized sexual violence against women committed by police, government officials, and other systems of power.[6] An important component of LASTESIS’ anti-patriarchal art is their choreography: distinct movements that transition as each song unfolds in front of the audience and which engage the audience.[7]
The collective is most prominently known for their performance of “Un Violador en tu Camino” (A Rapist in Your Path), a song with accompanying choreography that was first staged in front of a police station by a small group during a protest on 20 November 2019 in Valparaíso, Chile, and then on 25 November in Santiago, Chile,[4] as part of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women demonstrations.[1][7][8] The performance was then replicated across Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries, and spread all over the world: London, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Tokyo, Beirut, Istanbul, Mexico City, Caracas, Lima, Buenos Aires, among other places. In Manhattan, according to The Associated Press, it caused “a commotion so loud that it could be heard in a 15th-floor courtroom.”[7] It has been performed in over 200 locations globally.[1] The performance was influenced by Argentine feminist anthropologist Rita Segato's studies on rape.[1][4] It also drew from statistics for sexual assault in Chile, “where only 8% of resolved sexual-assault cases in 2018[8] ended up in some sort of conviction against the perpetrator, according to government statistics compiled by the Chilean Network Against Violence Against Women.”[5]
- ^ a b c d Burdiles, Noelia Figueroa (2020). "Comunicación Feminista y Arte Performático: El proyecto político del Colectivo Lastesis". Nomadías (in Spanish) (29): 257–279. ISSN 0719-0905.
- ^ "Performing in the Urgency of the Now. An Interview with Colectivo LASTESIS – Crisis and Communitas". crisisandcommunitas.com. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ^ "Las mujeres chilenas detrás de la performance 'Un violador en tu camino'". Interferencia (in Spanish). 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ^ a b c Martin, Deborah; Shaw, Deborah (November 2021). "Chilean and Transnational Performances of Disobedience: LasTesis and the Phenomenon of Un violador en tu camino". Bulletin of Latin American Research. 40 (5): 712–729. doi:10.1111/blar.13215. ISSN 0261-3050. S2CID 234137225.
- ^ a b "How the viral protest 'A Rapist in Your Path' became a defiant anthem for 2019". Los Angeles Times. 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ^ "LASTESIS — ARC". artistsatriskconnection.org. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ^ a b c Barbara, Vanessa (2020-01-28). "Opinion | Latin America's Radical Feminism Is Spreading". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ^ a b Gutiérrez, Karina (2020). From Collectivism to Professionalism: The Struggle for the Survival of Social Protest Theatre in Post-1980s Latinx America. ProQuest Central: Stanford University. pp. 24, 121.