Elyla (b. 1989) lives and works between Masaya, Nicaragua and Basel, Switzerland. They critically examines the myth of the “Nicaragua Mestiza” through a personal inquiry into what it means to be mestizx. Their video work Rumbling Earth unravels collective memory, revalidates dissident subjectivities, and redefines the body as a dynamic space of identity. Centered on the Masaya Volcano (Popogatepe, or “mountain that burns” in the Manque language), it evokes ancestral force and resistance.
Vertigo and dance, past and present, abyss and flight fuse through this corporeality that chooses dissent while honoring ancestral heritage. Elyla reimagines the 16th-century play El Güegüense, redesigning its costumes to reflect the history of LGBTQ+ rights in Nicaragua, in collaboration with Navajo artist and biologist Sierra Pete. Rumbling Earth marks a closure and farewell to a journey that channels an anti-colonial critique of mestizaje toward a trans-coloniality or even more, toward a trans-history with interstices of belonging for divergent identities.