El Otro Color
Curated by Bruno Leitão
Museo Nacional del Prado
Madrid, Spain
https://www.museodelprado.es/recurso/el-otro-color-de-flavia-vieira/05ecbbcf-18a2-7bfd-86c3-2b1c045ffcfe
A film by Flávia Vieira
Production: LejosLejos
Head of Production: Elisa Celda
Photography: Adrián Cores del Río
Editing and Sound Design: Óscar Vincentelli
Camera Assistant: David Villegas
Photography Assistant: Virginia Rita Luengo
Voice: Elena Galilea
Still Photography: Felipe Huertas
2025
@ Felipe Huertas
The project El Otro Color by Flávia Vieira investigates the colonial and cultural relations between Central America and Europe through the history of the Logwood tree (Pau-Campeche), a tree whose dark pigment left a strong mark on European fashion and economy in the 16th and 17th centuries. Featuring images of the only known specimen of this tree on Spanish territory and archival materials from the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo del Traje de Madrid, the video critically reflects on identity, power, and the diaspora of the color black in the Western imagination. By establishing connections between past and present, the work questions processes of appropriation, exoticization, and cultural hybridization. In revisiting historical narratives, it proposes a reflection on the persistence of these dynamics in contemporary societies.
In addition to exploring colonial geopolitics and the trade routes that shaped European cultural production, the project emphasizes the influence of Latin America in the construction of Iberian identity. The relationship between fashion, art, and power is addressed through the court garments of Spain and their chromatic symbolism, revealing how the black pigment of Logwood was appropriated and transformed into a symbol of prestige. The video inserts itself into a broader debate on collective memory and colonial traces in visual culture, inviting viewers to reconsider the impact of transatlantic exchanges in the contemporary world.
Bruno Leitão
