Idol with doll and chisel

Photo credits: Nadín Ospina
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Nadín Ospina

2001
carved stone
70 x 35 x 32 cm

The work is a symbiosis between Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and a pre-Hispanic sculpture from the Agustinian culture. In the manner of shamans and sages from the Huacayo works—an indigenous name—the figure holds a staff of command in one hand and a figurine resembling a doll in the other. The artist directly and ironically questions the commercialisation of cultural heritage, protected by articles 63, 70 and 72 of the Political Constitution. On this matter, the Constitutional Court ruling SU-649 of 2017 examines the transfer of the “Quimbaya Collection” from a Colombian head of state to a Spanish head of state and considers the possibility of recovering this cultural heritage through diplomatic channels.