Exhibitions
Yapci Ramos revives the flight of the guirre through contemporary art
The Cabildo de La Gomera Exhibition Hall will host, starting September 5th , "yo, Guirre ," the new video installation by Canarian artist Yapci Ramos. This work explores the island's cultural heritage through a contemporary and personal lens. The opening will take place that same day at 6:30 pm, and the exhibition will be on display until November 21, 2026.
The installation consists of two video pieces and three audio pieces which, when combined, form a large composition conceived specifically for the Cabildo's exhibition space. The project takes as its starting point different elements of La Gomera's symbolic imagery—the whistling language, the shepherd's leap, the sacrificial altars, and the Egyptian vulture—transforming them into metaphors for processes of personal transformation.
The unique geography of La Gomera is one of the central conceptual elements of the proposal. Its deep ravines and mountainous terrain have historically shaped how people traveled and communicated on the island, fostering the development of techniques to overcome distances and elevation changes. These include the use of the astia, the long, traditional shepherd's staff, and Silbo Gomero, a form of communication that allows the voice to be projected across the ravines.
Both practices share the same idea: expanding the body's capabilities to overcome the limitations imposed by the terrain. The astia allows for easier movement across uneven terrain, while the whistling expands the voice and makes it possible to communicate with someone on the other side of the distance.
Added to these elements is the figure of the Egyptian vulture, a bird that was part of La Gomera's landscape for centuries and became extinct on the island approximately seventy years ago as a consequence of the widespread use of DDT in agricultural fields. Its disappearance is incorporated into the project as a symbol of the transformation of the territory and the consequences that certain forms of environmental intervention can have on the natural and cultural heritage.
In *Yo, Guirre* , Yapci Ramos reclaims these symbols from an experience linked to his own origins. The project stems from a process of connecting with his ancestors from La Gomera, learning the island's traditional practices, and incorporating its cultural elements into contemporary artistic research.
The guirre, the astia, and the whistling language thus appear as different forms of expansion: the bird broadens one's gaze and allows one to imagine flight; the walking stick extends the body's possibilities; and the whistling language prolongs the voice beyond physical limits. Together they form a symbolic system that Ramos uses to speak of processes of inner transformation.
The installation proposes understanding this transition as a moment of liberation that occurs when a person recognizes, transcends, and accepts their own limitations. The geography of La Gomera ceases to be merely a backdrop and becomes a metaphor for the personal journey, while traditional practices acquire new interpretations from the present.
With *Yo, Guirre *, Yapci Ramos establishes a dialogue between memory, territory, heritage, and individual experience. The project recovers elements deeply linked to the identity of La Gomera and places them in a contemporary artistic context, asserting their capacity to generate new questions and meanings.
The video installation can be visited in the Exhibition Hall of the Cabildo of La Gomera until November 21, 2026.
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