JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to others?
OLGA BARRIOS: Recently I co-produced and presented the Vanguardia Dance Festival in Toronto in collaboration with my good friend and talented artist Norma Araiza. We created that festival in 2008 with the purpose of having a platform for us (independent artists of Latin American background) to present our works, and we have done it bi-annually since then. At that moment we were struggling to have the option of being selected to present our pieces in the regular festivals and platforms. The project has grown incredibly, and we have had the opportunity of supporting many artists of our community.
It matters because this project has given us the option to grow as producers, artists and of course as persons, while we support other people to grow. And it should matter to others because it is a space to support incredible artists of the minorities.
Also, the work Meitiza – (Mixed woman in Spanish). That I will be presenting at Night Shift. It is a project that departs from a personal research on cultural identity as choreographer of latinx background, digging into the traces of my indigenous origin in Colombia, where the traces of indigenous people have been erased as in many places in the globe. Thus, it expands in a wider dialogue based on the woman of many colors that I am, and with the many other voices that look for connection with those ideas of erased traces on history. The work looks for an extended dialogue with the diverse voices in the Americas. I expect to continue digging into questions in form and content such as in the corporal gesture, the protocols of the stage, the video, the voice and the sound landscape. I also look for an approach to the analysis of the voice of mixed-raced woman in a contemporary society and in my history.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
OB: I consider the arts a basin link in the process of building community and society. So, all my artistic processes change me in a way of construction. Pursuing tools to become a piece of society that brings humanity, analysis, and new perspectives to the spaces I inhabit and the people that surround me.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
OB: I think people appreciate my work on different levels, depending on the place where I stand with my work. I move through the realities of a “first and a third world”. So, the perspectives are many. I think what people can’t understand deeply sometimes is the amount of work that each process has. Or maybe it is that sometimes artists do not show much. The behind the scenes, the research time, the everyday questions of development, the multiple hats to make possible the realization of a work, the over work, the hard work.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
OB: I put all myself. My full body, my time, my energy, my questions about life, my inquiries about society, depending on the moment of life where I am. I work full time in my craft. All what I do in terms of living I project into my work.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
OB: Big challenges are time and money, sometimes to bring to life all the ideas on the table, or in the list of projects. However, those are things that creative people navigate in order to make things happen… but those are there constantly.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
OB: My parents supported me when I decided to switch my ideas of a career and pursue my artistic career. Even though they were not people from the arts, and we are originally from a country where being an artist is maybe for some people with certain privileges, they gave me all their energy to support my ideas, without thinking if that was a regular career or even a career. After their support and energy, I found that the possibilities were within me. So, they are the main impulse motor that supports the whole thing. After that, I have worked in arts most of my life, and I have found in my work a strong place to belong into a society and into diverse communities.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
OB: Most people think a person cannot live from working in the arts. But I have had the opportunity to do it. It demands a lot of work, and many hats, and of course artists we have to be very creative to survive and to develop the work.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
OB: I already move between two countries developing projects, and I have created a bridge between Canada and Colombia. I am still developing those projects for more people. However, I would like to move more of my work to different countries. The delay is having the time to find the connections to move, and again time to go beyond the projects that I have right now.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
OB: I really like all that I have lived so far, so maybe I will need a parallel life to do a few more things here and there. But probably, going into some intensive courses or working with other companies in other countries, for instance, but those are things that might happen, but if not, I have had the privilege of working with amazing artists.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
OB: I see hope when the questions arise. I see hope when we question the models of society through our ideas in the arts. I see hope when artists and of course my students have a critical analysis of the hegemonic structures. I see hope when an honest proposal crosses my path. And I find it depressing when we start seeing art as a product.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
OB: I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to do my work. That’s it what I like the most, to be able to do it. Of course, I like to move, to create, to contemplate, to explore, to do different things, to take diverse ways to go to places. To be on the move.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
OB: I don ́t really remember exactly the comments, but I have had feedback from very diverse people including kids. And that is very rewarding, all feedback makes the work continue growing and moving.
JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?
OB: It has had a strong impact. How to teach, how to perceive space, how to dialogue with my work through the screen, how to video/choregraph. How to re-connect with open spaces. I have been working constantly site-specific but these times have made us think of the scenic arts in diverse ways. A lot to learn, to think also about arts in terms of life and society.
JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?
OB: I was very blocked at the beginning, it made me question many things in relation to the socio-political, the environmental, privileges and life itself … I imagine there are as many on this planet. Then, my survival side jumped, and I started creating like crazy. But it also made me think about honoring my present and to be more generous with my time, my ideas, and with myself. I would say more fragile and also stronger at the same time.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
OB: I couldn ́t really tell. I find myself in a continuous dialogue with myself… However, one thing might be the continued internal drive to move and to create, that sometimes helps others to go with me in the ride.