Pachacamac

a little way to the south of Lima in the Lurín Valley lie the ruins of Pachacamac, a site layered with pre-Colombian history. the ruins lay claim to Moche and Nazca as well as Huari and Inca heritage. the site is a fine reminder of the Peruvian desert, dust stretching along the coast and well inland, a far cry from the mountains and jungles. next to Pachacamac is a settlement: I wasn't close enough to make out much, except that it rose out of the dust abruptly. were it not for the armed guards who patrol Pachacamac, clambering over the areas other visitors are not allowed to tred, the proximity of the settlement to the ruins suggested almost that it was part of the ruins, an extension of Pachacamac. whilst I watched explosions were going off in the little settlement, celebratory reminders that people were living among the ruins, here tucked away on the edge of Lima, almost in defiance of the name given to the little town: Julio César Tello and Julio César Tello II. the guard was impassive, protecting what was already ruined.

ruins in the city

on the edge of miraflores, lima, heading towards san isidro is the Huaca Pucllana, a group of pre-Colombian ruins sitting nearby modern blocks of flats and the houses and schools of the peruvian well-off. the site, dating from 200-500AD, was a ceremonial site and is comprised of adobe bricks joined with a mud cement.

Huaca Pucllana is a fine example of the precarious relationship between the city and ruins. on the one hand, the site is what the city is not. the dry and dusty area creates a desert within the city, its difference exaggerated by the railings that form the perimeter and which place the Huaca beyond the pale. the ruins, a place to venerate, to protect, to unearth brick by brick as the city around it is being built upon brick by brick, are excluded from the city. on the other, however, the Huaca is a reminder of what the city was, what it will become and, thus, what is already is: a ruin.

the city can never exclude ruination, can never push the ruin beyond its boundaries for it is constantly decaying, whether at the hands of earthquakes or the planner's wrecking ball.

caresses

under the slogan of offering caresses, a band of health workers, sex workers, researchers and artists, among others, have been campaigning in lima to protest violence against women.

using a variety of strategies, including a blog, videos, poster campaigns and even a comic strip, "se ofrecen caricias" is a carnavalesque protest, an archetypal example of the way in which politics in art has been transformed into artistic politics.

the mapping of prostitution is also included, a means of reconfiguring the urban orientation of lima, and similar to another example of alternative mapping relating to the disappeared of the last Argentine dictatorship. referring to health centres, identity card offices, areas of crackdowns on prostitutes and transvestites (Plaza Manco Capac) and areas where sex workers trade, the map transforms lima into a space that revolves around sex work. as a consequence, the historic centre of the city, plaza de armas, the square that made lima the city of kings, is absent, lying beyond where the city is drawn - beyond the pale...