Sara Abreu is a poet from Venezuela who strongly proposes to shout and declaim his opinions and feelings before the whole world, I invite you to enjoy this interesting interview!
Astrid: Tell us about all your virtues as an artist.
Sara: I am a non-binary poet, performer, performer and writer of works of theater and street with high social content against gender violence and the defense of human rights, I paint as an element of performance through body paint and as a hobby making murals, paintings or some sketch in my spare time, I also dance a little traditional dance that I learned during my growth and a little contemporary dance that I also use as an element of performance such as singing.
Astrid: Of all the things you work in, what do you enjoy doing the most?
Sara: What I enjoy most is developing poetic performance, since the poem leaves the rigidity of being only a written text, becoming a series of moving images mixing the word with the other branches of art, allowing greater sensory capacity of the emotions and sensations reflected in the poem in addition to that at the same time one as an interpreter can observe the reactions of people when seeing an image, By listening to each verse, making a purposeful interaction that feeds back to the poem and the performance, making each performance a unique process so the same poem is recited.
Astrid: Do you think that women in a certain way in the XXI century are still excluded from the arts?
Sara: Yes, many artists are excluded from cultural processes and artistic development, where they do not have the same opportunities as men for the dissemination of their contents and the sale of their works, although they are somehow better, they do not have the same opportunity to participate in festivals or artistic meetings. The economic remuneration of their work is not equal with that of men, in addition to having to endure harassment and sexual offer as an exchange mechanism to participate in a work or simply promote their art. It is quite evident that women have to try harder since there are artistic fraternities led by men that do not allow the equal participation of women from writing where writers promote their books with their surnames or under a pseudonym so that their text is considered until crossing all the branches or artistic disciplines and we observe it in the mass media where women are cocified, sexualized or ridiculed making their talents invisible, which hinders the development of women and the arts. In addition, there is a lot of macho content.
Astrid: Tell us about your experience with poetry.
Sara: I have been writing since I was very young, poetry has been a fundamental part of my life where I have had the opportunity to meet many people who also write or like poetry, or practice another artistic discipline, it has allowed me to meet me many times through writing, by reading a new poem that I only let be born and then I understand it. Or when reading an old poem that reminds me of the past I can also say that it has allowed me to participate in wonderful experiences such as recitals and encounter have invited me to participate as a poet, especially in unconventional spaces. My performative development starts from it, it can be said that it is poetic narrative on stage because it was born from the need to want to express more and experiment with new methods so that people could reach them with greater understanding the message or that feeling that the poem has printed, to get out of the rigidity of traditional recitals. Being part of the Caracas – Venezuela Poetic Brothel, I was able to recognize the importance of words to meet the other, that in this violent society tenderness is imperative and generate spaces for poetic sharing.
Astrid: What inspires you when you write?
Sara: Sometimes in many things, situations, feelings, emotions, joys, indignation, sadness, love, death, sometimes I describe images that come to mind. Other times in nothing only come to my head verses that I allow to develop from improvisation and I write them, it would be like a kind of literary surrealism allowing to write without censorship or prejudices letting the subconscious express itself.
The multiform reality and the now inspires me many times, as something that happens shakes us even if it is a distant reality.
Astrid: Do you think your work has an impact on society?
Sara: I hope they have a positive impact because my poetry seeks to generate a reflective process in people and my performances problematize the social reality that is lived in communities, cities and countries, it is an observation of social decomposition from a critical, transformative perspective that seeks from poetry and the conjunction of words, The staging and the various literary resources give a message of recilience and show how imperative it is to do something to reverse the various forms of violence, sometimes poetry however hard will always be loaded with a tenderness necessary to transform realities. With feminist performances we seek to reduce gender violence by deconstructing the macho culture by exposing the micro machismos and violent behaviors that have been normalized so that by observing the problem people begin to take different actions that translate into a better society less violent and kinder.
Astrid: Tell us what events you have participated in and with what artistic work.
Sara: I have participated in several alternative recitals such as those of the “Colectivo al final del bulevard”, in the Municipal Council, Museum of Fine Arts, Poesía Initerante, homage to famous figures of Venezuelan history.
In the Poetic Brothel developing performance we perform at CELARG, Parque Central Cultural Complex, Río Teatro Caribe, Javas Bar, Mamajuana Bar, Rajatabla Café, National Art Gallery, La Estafeta, El Techo de la Ballena, El Molino Rojo, among other spaces.
El Otro Rock Festival in two editions with performance of the Poetic Brothel.
LGBTIQ pride march 2019 in Venezuela with a performance called ‘inmemoriam’.
Participant of the World Poetry Festival in Caracas 2015- 2016- 2017-2019 with my poetry and with performances the Poetic Brothel.
Participant of the International Book Fair 2016- 2017-2018-2020 with my poetry and performances of the Poetic Brothel.
Circulo Escénico Festival 2018, Play ‘La Santa Panocha’.
International meeting of poets from the south. Caracas-Venezuela 2018-2019 performance Poetic Brothel.
Poet invited to the inauguration of the IV Intercontinental Meeting ELLA.
La plata-Argentina 2018 with my poetry.
International Theater Festival 2018-2019-2020 with various artistic exhibitions of the Latin American Feminist Brigade with ‘La subasta de las vaginas’ and ‘La santa panocha’ street performance and salon work.
Project “Multiarte Shamaniko’ as one of the painters and performing some performances.
1st Meeting of Feminist Performance of Caracas, I produced the event and with the performance “La Santa Panocha” (2021).
Astrid: Do you have any characters that are influential to you?
Sara: I think Krishna with his unconditional love without prejudice with a wonderful story full of knowledge and learning, Sidhartta the millennial Buddha, Miranda, Bolivar, Rimmbaud, Goethe, Alan Poe, Che; Although I don’t really consider myself a fan of anyone in particular, I only enjoy reading and the various branches of art.
Astrid: What would be the work you would like to do that you have not yet been able to do?
Sara: I develop audiovisual content, video art, video poems maybe a little music, I would love to do poetry, dubstep or experiment with trova.
Astrid: What do you think it would take in Venezuela to promote culture more?
Sara: Greater diffusion of emerging artists, create artistic corridors where the various disciplines of art are disseminated, greater financing and access to theater, democratization of artistic festivals, programs and projects to promote the arts, generate self-financing mechanism so that artists can create their own economy that allows them time for artistic creation.
Thank you very much to Sara for allowing me to conduct this interview today, for me it is always an honor to be able to know more about these great artists and their talents, I invite you to follow her on her social networks.
Social media:
Instagram: @avedetinta
Facebook: Sara Abreu
Twitter: @avis_ink