Chapter 3: The Diary
The “after” after the artist talk.
Summing up diary entries along instax photographs, the visitor opens up her diary to share the experiences she had in Súcua Haven. Now, not only as an anthropologist or an artist but as an individual that while she was in the midst of a project finds herself being transformed by this place and its people.
After the artist talk, everyone from the panel went to Partener´ s, a legendary gay bar from New Haven founded in 1974. The walls, the floor, the tables, and the bar have brown and reddish tones. I felt so happy, the best part of the talk was the “after”. Guayaquileños, Cañaris via Queens, Esmeraldeñas via NJ, friends from Gualaquiza, Súcua, Otavalo, Quito. Some are in Connecticut to study, others to work. Some are artists, other strippers, others diplomats, constructors and academics. Some were born here and others just arrived but we were all there, casually, drinking beer in Súcua Haven.
This was a peculiar encounter. Borders of race, ethnicity, class were blurred. They are always flexible but they exist. These create inequities, they alienate us from one another….anyhow I am gonna rumble. This was not common. At least not for me.
