La Queda published by the Faculty of Architecture and Design of Universidad Finis Terrae in Archipiélago, Booklet 02: Distancia (Distance).
”Just like the Camanchacos -early fishermen of the South Pacific sailing in their wolf hides-, I walk along the seashore catching the light in a tiny hole.
Walking the territory of those who inhabited the Atacama coast, I wonder if the garbage I find is the current expression of those remote nomadic fishermen who traveled along the sea collecting seaweed, fish and shellfish, building transient roofs to take refuge those days they were fishing away from their clans. They left their mark in large shell deposits that today reveal secrets about their extraordinary way of life.
I camp in the dunes. I think about how we will find the cave paintings we came here to see. I ask a young fisherman where they are. He is collecting seaweed with his children; they don't go to school on Saturdays. The paintings he says... His face still vibrates with our greeting as he goes off into daydreaming: My mother used to take us to see those paintings when we were little. Suspended in his own journey to childhood, still smiling sweetly he looks straight into my eyes and tells me he doesn't know where they are and warns me that it is an extremely dangerous trek. I insist that he takes us. He tells me of the risk of the ravines, of the missing link in his memory and the dreaded Camanchaca, the veil that fogs both the landscape and the understanding, inside and out... No, he cannot guide us to the paintings, however, with sparkling eyes he tells me again: La Queda. There, where the Queda is, with the abandoned boat, that is where you can start your search.”
La Queda. I have never heard that word before. La Queda bursts into my imagination and through my pinhole, conquering my eyes and my heart, throwing me on the trail of these impossible shelters against the hostility of the Pacific.
I am moved by those who have inhabited the shore for 8 thousand years, adapting to the waves and the wind, the salt and sand, the immense sun and the dark fog. Exploring their shells, walking among abandoned debris, I wonder if my work is not rather an obsession of my own longing for shelter, or my bewilderment before our fragility, that which moved Prometheus to steal the fire of the gods to illuminate and give warmth to mankind.”
Isabel Fernández Echavarría
Queda, quedarse: to stay; Queda, Ruco, Capacha, are words arising from the need for a roof under the harsh conditions in which small-scale fishermen work in the South Pacific, off the coasts of South America.