WEV UM RVÑ TYAYWVÑ

 

The official history of Uruguay, the one taught in schools and high schools, is a fable designed to give this country its own origin myth. A myth, a fable that takes root in our psyche as an irrefutable truth and prevents us from rethinking our identity, not only as a nation but also as individuals.

 

What is Uruguay? An unrecognized indigenous land, a Spanish colony, a forced independence, a Switzerland of America, a truncated industrial project, a Latin American dictatorship, an uninhabited territory, a kind of historical interstice of dubious identity. While there are several versions about the meaning of the word Uruguay, what is clear is that it is a word of Guarani origin and that, according to Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (the so-called poet of the nation), it means "river of the painted birds." Thus, this work begins with this definition in an attempt to question Uruguay not only as an identity but also through its own language, as an irrefutable trace of our Hispanic colonial origin.

 

The work consists of a rewriting of the poem/song "Río de los pájaros" by Aníbal Sampayo (a song taught in all schools and sung by all children in the country as the national anthem of Uruguay) using a typewriter where the letters have been changed. Therefore, when the original poem is typed, the result is different, since the letters do not register as their corresponding letters when typed.

 

This work presents us with a Uruguay as a false premise, a typewriter with the letters in the wrong place, resulting in an erroneous conclusion.