(Castellano) (Euskara) Illustration: Li Mendes
Clown Julieta Hernández, Miss Jujuba, 37 years old, was found dead in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. She had been missing for 13 days. She showed signs of strangulation and had been raped. Julieta was on a bicycle trip back to Venezuela to celebrate the new year with her family.
Julieta arrived in Brazil in 2016 and traveled by bicycle spreading joy. Thus she traveled through the roads of the interior of Brazil, spreading the culture of the circus and clown women, as she went, always on her bicycle. Her courage and joy of life inspire us and remind us that the revolution we have pending is still tenderness.
The Brazilian organization Circo di Só Ladies/NemSóLadies is an organization of comedians that was born from concerns regarding gender inequality and in search of a space for women in comedy. On their Instagram account they published
“Our great Juliet, our Jujuba clown, she carried her dreams on a bicycle and caused smiles throughout Brazil. She’s gone, they took her away from us. Her liveliness was a victim of feminicide and her bicycle was destroyed, as well as our hearts.”
This Friday, January 12, bike marches have been called in many cities. In Brazil they will be held in more than 120 cities. And in the rest of the world in another 30, including Bilbo. In Bilbo it will be on Sunday, January 14 at 6:00 p.m. from Plaza de Arriaga.
As the organizers of Bilbo’s bike ride express:
«Julieta is one more victim of this sick society that does not allow women to be free. In Brazil 5 women die every day as a result of being victims of gender violence. The figures worldwide are chilling. Approximately 5 women and girls are murdered every time. Her death deeply touches us as women, as clowns and because of the ties with our colleagues from Brazil, Venezuela and Latin America in general.»
And this is the statement from her Brazilian colleagues:
«Julieta Hernández was a street artist, cyclist and emigrant. It is essential that we begin this letter like this. Because these are the places of action, word and struggle in which her existence orbited. They were her spaces of confrontation, in the subtlety of her sweet future, with the system. A peculiar and special mode of position and act.
Julieta was Venezuelan, a bicycle activist, a woman with a solo and independent project of democratization and decentralization of social and cultural practices, a clown, writer and puppeteer. She was a veterinarian, protector of animals in her path, theatre student, enthusiast and researcher of the Theatre of the Oppressed. Julieta was, and always will be, one of the greatest references of artistic, human, social and interdisciplinary militancy that our continent has seen.
Julieta was an experienced cycler, with four years of continuous movement, articulated in support networks, responsible and extremely careful on her side. In fact, Juliet did much more than she should have. Julieta was a living example for the entire community of nomads that weaves this great, so marginalized, stigmatized and misunderstood network. Julieta was on the street, making art, and maybe you turned your back on her at some crossroads.
Julieta was an emigrant. She mocked unnecessary borders, those that cut oppressed people in half, those that oppress people in half, that turn us against each other. Julieta nobly respected the borders that protected the communities, the traditional knowledge, the treasures contained in the daily life of the forests, the rivers and the towns. Julieta understood and related to this debate and place of action like few others.
Julieta was a woman who dared to make her own path. No matter how much she articulated herself in different networks, she had a solitary impetus, she made use of her right to be whole, to have her individuality impregnated with her emotions and experiences. The place of her creation and her experience of her world was private and sacred. Julieta was a brave woman with her feet planted in reality and no other way of seeing her is acceptable.
Juliet, as everyone knows now, was full of affection, friendships and love. The gift and sensitivity of active and real listening. She listened, understood and did what she should do according to her convictions. Julieta was a daughter meeting her mother. Julieta simply went, because she knew that going is the only way to get there.
«A bicycle trip for a single clown… Alone?» Julieta asked us face to face, from the title of her show. Miss Jujuba, those of us who have known her and respected her existence for a long time can say no. But now, you who are reading this letter, who through these words have been able to delve into the nuances of this questioning, provocative and poetic power in its very essence, we ask you: can you break with everything conventional and that social violence which didn’t allow Julieta to get home?
Julieta is no longer here. We have to think: what will we do for Julieta from now on? For a new paradigm of respect for the individuality and existence of female and dissident bodies. So that street art is valued and recognized as an essential place in the field of cultural and social action. For the performance. For a less consumerist relationship with the world and its resources. For empathy towards migrants and their right to movement and permanence.
Songs, sounds, laughter, words, hands of small animated actions, great acts of love, breaking down walls with each pedal stroke: Julieta was the powerful combination that revolutionized the roads.
Go in peace Juli, you have done a lot here.
#JULIETPRESENT
Signed as authors of this letter:
Luiza Soares @circomuamba and groups of friends members of the Julieta Collective Present: @pevermei @palhacosalsicha @circodoasfalto @circodisoladies @guadalupemerki
